Haryana made heavy climate of a modest chase earlier than holding its nerve, ultimately, to beat Gujarat by two wickets within the quarterfinals of the Vijay Hazare Trophy right here on the Kotambi Stadium on Sunday.
In pursuit of 197, the defending champion was cruising in direction of victory at 173 for 3 within the thirty fifth over however discovered itself in hassle when it misplaced 5 wickets for 19 runs within the subsequent eight.
Opener Himanshu Rana (66, 89b, 10×4) led the best way for Haryana on the high, stroking a advantageous half-century. Rana and his fellow opener Arsh Ranga bought their facet off to a brisk begin – the latter smashing left-arm pacer Arzan Nagwaswalla for 5 boundaries within the pacer’s first two overs.
Rana batted sensibly with out taking many dangers and stitched two essential partnerships, a 54-run stand with Ankit Kumar for the second wicket after which added 55 alongside Parth Vats (38) for the third.
Seemingly out of nowhere, Haryana pressed the self-destruct button when victory was in sight. Leg-spinner Ravi Bishnoi, launched into the assault solely within the twenty fourth over, bought Gujarat again into the competition by eradicating Rana, who was caught at covers.
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The 24-year-old troubled the batters together with his attacking traces and later struck thrice in three overs. Bishnoi dismissed the well-set Vats caught behind, then had Rahul Tewatia stumped and later castled Sumit Kumar to set the cat amongst the pigeons in Haryana’s camp.
In the end, Dinesh Bana and Anshul Kamboj ensured their facet huffed and puffed throughout the end line to ship Axar Patel’s males packing dwelling.
Earlier, the Haryana bowlers vindicated their skipper Ankit Kumar’s choice to discipline first by bowling out Gujarat for simply 196. Debutant pacer Anuj Thakral and left-arm spinner Nishant Sindhu have been the wreckers-in-chief, scalping three wickets every.
The Gujarat batters confirmed poor utility in opposition to some disciplined bowling. After racing to 45 for no loss, Urvil Patel bought run out, offering a gap for Haryana.
Thakral then took three wickets in 4 overs to interrupt the again of the highest order, and the house state was quickly in hassle at 84 for 5 within the twentieth over.
Throughout the center overs, spinners Amit Rana and Sindhu additional choked the circulate of runs because the batters went right into a shell.
From 137 for eight, Hemang Patel (54, 62b, 2×4, 5×6) then performed a valiant counter-attacking knock, raining sixes by slogging the bowlers by means of the leg facet to lend some respectability to the full, which nearly proved sufficient.
VHT semifinal line-up:
Jan 15: Haryana vs Karnataka
Jan 16: Vidarbha vs Maharashtra
The scores:
Gujarat 196 in 45.2 overs (Hemang Patel 54, Anuj Thakral 3/39, Nishant Sindhu 3/40) misplaced to Haryana 201/8 in 44.2 overs (Himanshu Rana 66, Ravi Bishnoi 4/46).
Rajasthan 291/8 in 50 overs (Deepak Hooda 45, Shubham Garhwal 59, Kartik Sharma 62, Yash Thakur 4/39) misplaced to Vidarbha 292/1 in 43.3 overs (Dhruv Shorey 118 n.o., Karun Nair 122 n.o.).