Vijay Hazare Trophy: Services enter semis with a 7-wicket win over Kerala

Jaipur: Services put up an all-round show to sail into the Vijay Hazare Trophy semifinals with a facile seven-wicket win over Kerala at the K L Saini Stadium here on Wednesday. Chasing a paltry 176, Services cantered home in 30.5 overs with opener Ravi Chauhan top-scoring with a 90-ball 95 (13×4, 3×6) and skipper Rajat […]

Jaipur: Services put up an all-round show to sail into the Vijay Hazare Trophy semifinals with a facile seven-wicket win over Kerala at the K L Saini Stadium here on Wednesday.

Chasing a paltry 176, Services cantered home in 30.5 overs with opener Ravi Chauhan top-scoring with a 90-ball 95 (13×4, 3×6) and skipper Rajat Paliwal making a 86-ball 65 (8×4).

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Paliwal won the toss and sent Kerala in as their bowling department led by seasoned medium pacer Diwesh Pathania (8-2-19-3) rattled the Kerala top-order before bowling them out for a paltry 175 in 40.4 overs.

Later, Pulkit Narang (2/51), Abhishek Tiwari (2/33 from 7.4 overs) and Rahul Singh (1/35 from 9 overs) made their presence felt to polish off the tail. Services were also brilliant on the field and ran out Rohan Kunnummal — the Kerala top-scorer — for 85 to restrict them to a below-par total.

The 32-year-old Pathania struck twice in the seventh over when he dismissed Mohammed Azharuddeen (7) and Jalaj Saxena (0) in successive balls to give them a perfect start.

It was Kerala’s rookie opener Kunnummal (85 from 106 balls; 7×4, 2×6) who kept them on the track with a resolute half-century, reaching his second List A fifty in 77 balls. Kerala No 4 Vinoop Manoharan gave a fine support with a brisk 41 off 54 balls laced with four boundaries and one six as the duo put together a fine 80-run partnership for the third wicket to repair the early damage.

Just when they were looking to build on their starts, offspinner Pulkit Narang caught and bowled Vinoop Manoharan to break the partnership. Services will face Himachal Pradesh in the semifinals in Jaipur on Friday.

Saurashtra overpower Vidarbha

Saurashtra produced another dominating display to steamroll Vidarbha by seven wickets and storm into the semifinals of the Vijay Hazare Trophy here on Wednesday.

First, Saurashtra bowlers-led by skipper Jaydev Unadkat (2/25) dished out a clinical show and bundled out the opposition for a paltry 150 in 40.3 overs, despite Apoorv Wankhede’s hard-fought 72. They then rode on Prerak Mankad’s gusty unbeaten 77 off 72 balls to chase the target with 20.1 overs to spare despite a top-order failure.

Brief Scores:

Kerala 175 in 40.4 overs (Rohan Kunnummal 85; Diwesh Pathania 3/19) lost to Services 176/3 in 30.5 overs (Ravi Chauhan 95, Rajat Paliwal 65 no);

Vidarbha 150 in 40.3 overs (Apoorv Wankhede 72) lost to Saurashtra 151/3 in 29.5 overs (Prerak Mankad 77no).

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