BENGALURU/CHENNAI: Tripura earned a well-deserved 53-run victory over heavyweights Mumbai in a rain-affected group A league match of the Vijay Hazare Trophy here on Sunday. Despite the loss, Mumbai are firmly on course for a quarter-final berth as they are still on top of the group with 20 points from six games and a match left.
Batting first, Tripura scored a competitive 288 for 5 in 50 overs. In reply, Mumbai’s revised target was 265 in 43 overs, courtesy VJD method used as rain-rule for domestic games. But Tripura did well to bowl out Ajinkya Rahane’s side for 211 in 40.3 overs with seamer Manisankar Mura Singh finishing with 4 for 23 in 8.4 overs after having a smashed a half-century in the morning.Skipper Rahane scored 78 off 84 balls but against a not-so-formidable Tripura attack, the former India captain never looked comfortable and in the end, his knock was not enough to change the result.
Meanwhile, Baba Indrajith scored a 115-ball 92 proved to be the difference-maker as Tamil Nadu beat Madhya Pradesh by 17 runs in Thane. Batting first, Indrajith’s innings was crucial as the other batters struggled. From 101/2, Tamil Nadu were eventually bundled out for 195. In reply, MP batters got off to a worst possible start and lost four wickets within 12 overs with just 27 runs on board. Rajat Patidar scored 73 to steady the ship but MP were eventually bowled out for 178. R Sai Kishore and Varun Chakravarthy picked up three apiece.
Select results: Tamil Nadu 195 all out in 49.5 ovs (Indrajith 92) bt Madhya Pradesh 178 in 47.4 ovs (Patidar 73; Sai Kishore 3/25, Varun 3/40); Vidarbha 286/8 in 50 ovs (Karun 102 n.o) lost to Hyderabad 159/1 in 29 ovs (Tanmay 77 n.o, Rahul 62 n.o); Tripura 288/5 in 50 ovs (Bikran 70, Sudip 60, Mura Singh 55 n.o) bt Mumbai 211 in 40.1 ovs (Rahane 78; Mura Singh 4/23); Delhi 279/4 in 50 ovs (Himmat Singh 132 n.o) bt Chandigarh 210 in 44.2 ovs (Arslan Z Khan 63); Andhra 249 in 46.5 ovs (Karan 67, Nithish 60 n.o, Bharat 55) lost to Uttar Pardesh 255/4 in 41.5 ovs (Aryan 55, Sameer Rizvi 61 n.o, Jurel 57 n.o); Karnataka 143 in 43.5 ovs (SP Kumar 3/28) lost to Haryana 144/5 in 31.5 ovs (RP Sharma 63).