The Vijay Hazare Trophy 2023 saw it's first round of matches get underway, across different venues in the country on Thursday, November 23. The highlight game was defending champions Saurashtra against Kerala at the KSCA Cricket Ground in Alur. Cheteshwar Pujara did not play as Saurashtra were bowled out for 185 in 49.1 overs. Vishvaraj Jadeja top scored with 98 whereas other batters failed to get double digits. Skipper Jaydev Unadkat scored 37. For Kerala, Akhin Sathar scalped 4/39. (Streaming and Schedule | Cricket News | ODI World Cup)
In reply, Kerala lost wickets but in the end reached the target with three wickets to spare. Abdul Basith top scored with 60.
Mumbai's dominance continued as they bowled out Sikkim for 89 in 38.1 overs. Ajinkya Rahane-led side won the match in 12 overs as they registerd an easy win.
Yuzvendra Chahal might be despondent after the selectors snubbed him for the T20I series against Australia, but the leg-spinner channelised his angst positively with a six-wicket burst against Uttarakhand as Haryana started their Vijay Hazare Trophy campaign with a six-wicket win here on Thursday.
The 33-year-old's six-wicket haul (10-2-26-6) saw Haryana bundling out Uttarakhand for 207 in their Group C match, and along the way Chahal also completed 200 List A wickets. It might just help him to stay visible on the selectorial radar.
For Uttarakhand, wicketkeeper batter Aditya Tare made 67 while opener Kunal Chandela chipped in with 47 as Chahal ran through the rest of the order.
The chase was pretty non-frilled as openers Yuvraj Singh (68) and Ankit Kumar (49) gave them a sound platform, while captain Ashok Maneria contributed an unbeaten 44.
Also Read: Vijay Hazare Trophy 2023 Preview
Here are the results and updates from all the first-round games of Vijay Hazare Trophy 2023:
Group A matches
Saurashtra vs Kerala: Kerala won the toss and chose to bowl first in Alur
SAUR 185 (49.1)KER 188/7 (47.4) - Kerala won by 3 wkts
Playing XIs
Saurashtra: Sheldon Jackson (wk), Arpit Vasavada, Prerak Mankad, Harvik Desai, Chirag Jani, Dharmendrasinh Jadeja, Jaydev Unadkat (c), Samarth Vyas, Parth Bhut, Vishvaraj Jadeja, Ankur Panwar
Kerala: Sanju Samson (c & wk), Rohan Kunnummal, Sachin Baby, Vishnu Vinod, Sijomon Joseph, Abdul Basith, Basil Thampi, Akhil Scaria, Shreyas Gopal, Nedumankuzhy Basil, Akhin Sathar
Mumbai vs Sikkim: Sikkim won the toss and chose to bat first in Alur
SKM 89 (38.1) MUM 90/3 (12) - Mumbai won by 7 wkts
Playing XIs
Sikkim: Ashish Thapa, Ankur Malik, Bhim Luitel, Nilesh Lamichaney (c), James Lepcha (wk), Palzor Tamang, Sumit Singh, Saurav Prasad, Lee Yong Lepcha, Md Saptulla, Pankaj Rawat
Mumbai: Jay Gokul Bista, Ajinkya Rahane (c), Sarfaraz Khan, Prasad Pawar (wk), Shams Mulani, Mohit Avasthi, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Atharva Ankolekar, Royston Dias, Tanush Kotian, Tushar Deshpande
Mayank, Samarth spur Karnataka
Openers Mayank Agarwal and Ravikumar Samarth fired in tandem to make big hundreds as Karnataka started their campaign with a big 222-run win over Jammu and Kashmir at Motera 'B' ground in Ahmedabad in a Group C match.
Samarth (123 off 120 balls, 11x4, 2x6), Agarwal (157 off 133 balls, 11x4, 8x6) and Devdutt Padikkal (71, 35 balls, 4x4, 5x6) spurred Karnataka to a mammoth 402 for 2. It was also their highest-ever List A total. Pacer Vysakh Vijayakumar then grabbed four wickets as Karnataka bundled out J&K for 180.
All-round Bengal hammer Nagaland
In a Group E match at BKC, Mumbai, captain Sudip Kumar Gharami, who made a 44-ball 62, and opener Abhimanyu Easwaran, who struck 57 off 63 balls, assisted Bengal to overcome a mediocre target posted by Nagaland for a nine-wicket victory. Earlier, pacers Saksham Chaudhary (3/23) and Akash Deep (2/24) shared five wickets among them to bowl out Nagaland to a lowly 139 in 47 overs.
Brief scores:
Group A: Sikkim: 89 all out in 38.1 overs (Nilesh Lamichaney 29; Tushar Deshpande 3/19, Mohit Avasthi 2/9, Atharva Ankolekar 2/13) lost to Mumbai: 90 for 3 in 12 overs (Angkrish Raghuvanshi 30, Jay Bista 28, Ajinkya Rahane 15 not out) by 7 wickets.
Saurashtra: 185 all out in 49.1 overs (Vishvarajsinh Jadeja 98, Akhin 4/39, Shreyas Gopal 2/29) lost to Kerala: 188 for 7 in 47.4 overs (Abdul Bazith 60, Sanju Samson 30, Shreyas Gopal 21 not out; Ankur Panwar 4/50) by 3 wickets.
Group B: Maharashtra: 355 for 4 in 50 overs (Ankit Bawane 107, Om Bhosale 73, A.N. Kazi 61) lost to Jharkhand: 359 for 4 in 49 overs (Virat Singh 143, V. Vishal 53, Saurabh Tiwary 70 not out, Kumar Kushagra 67 not out) by 6 wickets.
Group C: Bihar: 149 all out in 39 overs (Veer Pratap Singh 43; Ishant Sharma 3/30, Harshit Rana 4/17, Suyash Sharma 3/19) lost to Delhi: 150 for 2 in 22.1 overs (Priyansh Arya 45, Yash Dhull 46 not out, Anuj Rawat 33) by 8 wickets.
Karnataka: 402 for 2 in 50 overs (Mayank Agarwal 157, R Samarth 123, Devdutt Padikkal 71) beat J&K: 180 all out in 30.4 overs (Vivrant Sharma 41, Yudhvir Singh 64; Vysakh Vijayakumar 4/57) by 222 runs.
Uttarakhand: 207 all out in 47.4 overs (Aditya Tare 65, Kunal Chandela 47; Yuzvendra Chahal 6/26) lost to Haryana: 208/4 in 45 overs (Yuvraj Singh 68, Ankit Kumar 49, Ashok Maneria 44 not out) by 6 wickets.
Group D: Baroda: 214 for 9 in 50 overs (Shivalik Sharma 51, Krunal Pandya 49, Abhimanyu Singh 38; Baltej Singh 4/27) beat Punjab: 211 all out in 49 overs (Nehal Wadhera 49, Siddharth Kaul 47; BA Pathan 3/50) by 3 runs.
Group E: Nagaland: 139 all out in 47 overs (Sumit Kumar 36; Saksham Chaudhary 3/23, Akash Deep 2/24) lost to Bengal: 143 for 1 in 18.5 overs (Abhimanyu Easwaran 57 not out, Sudip Kumar Gharami 62 not out) by 9 wickets.
(With PTI inputs)
