Vijay Hazare Trophy: Vignesh, Mukund sink Rajasthan

JAIPUR: While all the talk was about injury-torn Tamil Nadu and fiery bowling of Team Rajasthan, medium-pacer K Vignesh utilised the overcast conditions to push the hosts to the corner in a Group C match of the Vijay Hazare Trophy here at the SMS Stadium on Tuesday.
Vignesh, who picked 3 for 34, got ample support from fellow bowlers in Tamil Nadu’s six-wicket win over Rajasthan.
Looking at the weather conditions, it was a crucial toss to win and Dinesh Karthik’s team made the most of it. Put on to bat, Rajasthan looked like a confused lot unable to read the swerving ball due to the moisture on the wicket in their own backyard. The top order came and went in a blink of an eye succumbing to careless strokeplay and the consistent line and lengths of the trio—Vignesh, R. Sai Kishore (2/66) and M Mohammed (2/58).
Weather was the talking point and both the teams pointed towards the role it played. Vignesh said, “The pitch conditions here are a lot better than what we get back home. Also, the conditions were conducive and weather too helped us.”
Team Rajasthan captain Mahipal Lomror rued losing the toss and missing out on Deepak Chahar’s services. “Many things did not go in our favour from toss to losing out on Deepak because of a slight niggle. We did not get the seam movement that Tamil Nadu got. But it is part and parcel of cricket.”
Seasoned batsmen Arjit Gupta and left-hand batsman Ashok Menaria held the innings together as they stitched together a partnership of 77 runs, before the latter was trapped plumb in front by left-arm spinner Sai Kishore.
It was a carefully carved partnership as Tamil Nadu were not giving easy runs.
At one stage even 200 appeared a distant score to reach, but the meticulous innings of 77 off 82 balls by Arjit and later a slam-bang knock by leg spinner Rahul Chahar towards the end took Rajasthan to a respectable score of 261. His knock of 48 from 25 balls was studded with three sixes over the mid-wicket and one at square-leg.
Tamil Nadu’s Mohammed and Kishore were the most expensive of all their bowlers as they became victims of attacking shots of Arjit and Rahul, who towards the end of his innings upped the ante. The duo scalped two wickets apiece.
The pitch had become placid in the second innings and with Rajasthan lacking the services of a proper fifth bowler, Tamil Nadu pounced on the opportunity and quite methodically went about the chase. Abhinav Mukund (75 off 83) and Baba Aparajith (52 off 67) laid solid foundation for the team. Three wickets tumbled in a flurry during the middle overs, but that did not dent the visitors’ chase. Later, TN captain Dinesh Karthik (52 off 52) collaborated with Sharukh Khan (48 off 39) to take their side home.
In the second Group C match, Bengal lost to Gujarat by 38 runs at the Jaipuria Vidhyalaya Ground near here. Put in to bat by Bengal, the Parthiv Patel-led side had a shaky start as top three Gujarat batsmen failed to read the pacers. Bhargav Merai (63 off 93) and Manpreet Juneja (47 off 58) took the innings forward and with the help of a 33-run cameo by Axar Patel, Gujarat could notch up a target of 254 runs. Sayan Ghosh drew first blood for Bengal when he bowled out Parthiv for 17 runs. Another Gujarat opener Kathan Patel (36 off 53) too became his victim. Veteran fast bowler Ashok Dinda and Akash Deep gave ample support to Ghosh, but it was the batsmen who faltered and failed to click together as a unit. Opener Shreevats Goswami anchored the innings for Bengal, but in the absence of support from the other end, Bengal gave up the chase and were all out for 215 runs. Gujarat pacer Rush Kalaria returned with a four-wicket haul.
In the third Group C match, Tripura won a low-scoring contest by two wickets against Jammu & Kashmir at the KL Saini Stadium here. Batting first, Parvez Rasool & Co. were bundled out at a meagre score of 197 with Qamran Iqbal (43) contributing with major chunk of runs. Harmeet Singh and Pratyush Singh took three and two wickets respectively to derail J&K. What should have been a stroll in the park, appeared to be an uphill task for Tripura as wickets kept tumbling at regular intervals. It was opener B Ghosh (62 off 98) along with Milind (77 off 69), who ensured Tripura crossed the finish line.
Brief scores: Rajasthan 261 for 9 in 50 overs (Arjit Gupta 77, Rahul Chahar 48, Ashok Menaria 35; K Vignesh 3/34, M Mohammed 2/58, R Sai Kishore 2/66) lost to Tamil Nadu (Abhinav Mukund 75, B Aparajith 52, Dinesh Karthik 52 not out, Shahrukh Khan 48 not out, Aniket Choudhary 1/53) by six wickets.
Points: TN: 4, Rajasthan: 0.
Gujarat 253 for 8 in 50 overs (Bhargav Merai 63, Manprit Juneja 47, Kathan D Patel 36, Ashoke Dinda 3/58) beat Bengal 215 all out in 46.2 overs (Shreevats Goswami 79, Anustup Majumdar 39, Rush Kalaria 4/34, Axar Patel 1/47) by 38 runs.
Points: Gujarat: 4, Bengal: 0.
Jammu & Kashmir 197 all out in 43.2 overs (Qamran Iqbal 43, Fazil Rashid 38, Harmit Singh 3/32) lost to Tripura 198 for 8 (Bishal Ghosh 62, Milind Kumar 77, Umar Nazir 3/45) by 2 wickets.
Points: Tripura: 4, J&K: 0.