Indian Test batsman Cheteshwar Pujara showed that he could bat in limited over cricket too, after his blistering knock of 81 off 55 balls set up Saurashtra's win over Jammu & Kashmir in their group match in Kochi on Monday. With his brilliant match-winning knock, Pujara would be sending a strong message to selectors ahead of the T20 World Cup at home.
Saurashtra were put into bat after losing the toss and they made J&K pay for it as Pujara launched into attack mode right from the start. His cameo knock included 5 fours and 5 big sixes. He was supported well by Chirag Jani who hit 38 off 19 balls, to push Saurashtra to 157/7.
J&K however, just did not get going as they lost wickets at regular intervals and eventually folded to 84 all out, 3 runs more than Pujara's score. Dharmendrasinh Jadeja was the pick of the bowler for Saurashtra with his spell of 3/19.
Brief Scores: Saurashtra 157/7 (20) (Pujara 81, Jani 38; Mudhasir 2/15) beat Jammu& Kashmir 84-all out (17.1) (D. Jadeja 3/19) by 73 runs.
Meanwhile, Karnataka lost to Uttar Pradesh despite a brave batting effort in Cuttack. Winning the toss and choosing to bat first, they put up 160/6 on board, mainly due to 22-year-old Mohammad Taha’s fighting 45 off 40 balls at the top of the order. However, UP hardly broke a sweat and comfortably overhauled the target with 5 balls to spare.
Brief Scores: Karnataka 160/6 (20) (Taha 45; Piyush Chawla 2/24) lost to Uttar Pradesh 161/5 (19.1) (Prashant Gupta 48, Dwivedi 29*) by 5 wickets.
Virender Sehwag-captained Haryana side lost another match in the tournament as they went down to Vidarbha by 8 wickets in Nagpur. Batting first after winning the toss, Haryana just managed to score 136/8, despite a valiant 65 from Mohit Hooda. In reply, Vidarbha romped home with 8 wickets in hand and 3 balls to spare.
Brief Scores: Haryana 136/8 (20) (Hooda 65; Jangid 3/13) lost to Vidarbha 140/2 (19.3) (Himanshu Joshi 61*) by 8 wickets.
Vijay Hazare Trophy winners Gujarat scored a narrow 3-wicket victory over Hyderabad in Nagpur. Chasing the modest total of 131, Gujarat lost wickets regularly but, in the end, managed to hit the winning runs, with 3 balls to spare. Captain Parthiv Patel scored 70 off just 40 balls.
Brief Scores: Gujarat 134/7 (19.3) (Parthiv Patel 70; B.Sandeep 3/14) beat Hyderabad 131/7 (20) (Vihari 32; RP Singh 3/15) by 3 wickets.
Biplab Samantray's fine century went in vain as Odisha lost their match to Maharashtra by 4 wickets, in Cuttack. Odisha, batting first, scored 183/4 at the end of 20 overs. But the Maharashtra middle order stepped up to the occasion, in pushing them home. Ankit Bawne played a cameo knock scoring 52 off 26 balls to hit the winning runs.
Brief Scores: Odisha 183/4 (20) (Samantray 102(58b), Poddar 63) lost to Maharashtra 184/6 (20) (Bawne 52*) by 4 wickets.Other Results on Day 3:
Mumbai 128/2 (18.1) (Tare 49*, Herwadkar 39) beat Services 127/7 (20) (Yashpal 40*) by 8 wickets.
Goa 132/7 (20) (Asnodkar 24, Bandekar 24) lost to Assam 133/6 (19.3) (P.Das 44, Sinha 18*) by 4 wickets.
Andhra 115 (19.4) (Shinde 28; Mali 4/26) lost to Railways 122/9 (20) (Pandey 28, Ahmed 26) by 7 runs.
Rajasthan 120/9 (20) (Chandrapal Singh 40, Yagnik 30; Vikash 4/12) lost to Jharkhand 121/2 (19.5) (Tiwary 61*, Kumar 38*) by 8 wickets.
Madhya Pradesh 156/6 (20) (Ojha 48, Sahani 36; Sangwan 3/22) lost to Delhi 160/6(19.5) (Gambhir 38, Milind 36) by 4 wickets.
Bengal 154/6 (20) (Chandila 70; Jaiswal 4/26) beat Himachal Pradesh 152/3 (20) (Chopra 74*, Dogra 52) by 2 runs.
Tripura 111 (19.5) (Bose 35; Thampi 4/15) lost to Kerala 113/2 (16.1) (Samson 56*, Prem 40) by 8 wickets.
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