Vijay Hazare Trophy 2018: Rishabh Pant's blistering century goes in vain; Kerala, Maharashtra register wins

Rishabh Pant's stunning 135 off 93 balls was not enough to carry Delhi across the finishing line as they fell 2 runs short of Himachal Pradesh's 304.

Pant's knock comprised 14 fours and five massive sixes but his stay at the crease was ended by an unfortunate run-out at the hands of Dagar. Earlier, Himachal skipper Prashant Chopra led the way for his side with a composed century, eventually finishing with 150 runs to his name and leading his side to a competitive total. He was ably supported by Amit Kumar who notched fifty useful runs himself.

In reply, Delhi stumbled early, falling to 92-3 before Pant's heroics almost snatched them a victory.

Brief scores: Himachal Pradesh 304/5 (P Chopra 150, A Kumar 52; I Sharma 2/39) beat Delhi 302 all out (Pant 135, Rana 52; R Dhawan 3/38) by 2 runs.

Kerala made light work of Uttar Pradesh with healthy contributions from Jalaj Saxena (37), Prem (66), Sachin Baby (38) and Arun Karthik (54) propelling them to 261. While Ankit Rajput struggled with the ball, Mohsin Khan proved to be the pick of the bowlers for Uttar Pradesh, ending with figures of 4/43.

Uttar Pradesh's chase never took off and they were reduced to 32/3 before eventually being cleaned up for a mere 141, conceding the match by a whopping 120 runs.

The wickets were shared among the Kerala bowlers, KC Akshay and Sandeep Warrier both scalping three each and skipper Sachin Baby getting two.

Brief scores: Kerala 261/9 (Prem 66, Arun Karthik 54; M Khan 4/43) beat Uttar Pradesh 141 all out (M Saif 31; Akshay 3/32) by 120 runs.

In the final Group B match on the day, Maharashtra rode on Ruturaj Gaikwad's gritty century to overcome a rather meek target 223 set by Tripura.

Tripura's decision to bat first backfired immediately when they lost SS Das for just 3. While Banik and Patel steadied the ship, taking their side past the fifty run mark, the former's dismissal triggered a mini-collapse as Kerala sunk from 84-2 to 99/5. The skipper Murasingh though struck a quickfire half-century to take them to a half decent total.

Tripura began the defense of their total in fine fashion, sending Vijay Zol and Rahul Tripathi back to the hut early, but Gaikwad remained defiant and in the company of Ankit Bawne, made sure his side came away with the W.

Brief scores: Maharashtra 223/6 (R Gaikwad 115, Bawne 53; Sarkar 2/40) beat Tripura 222/7 all out (Murasingh 55, Patel 38; Bacchav 2/17) by 4 wickets.