Saurabh Tiwary's hundred went in vain as Jharkhand lost to Hyderabad by 21 runs, leaving them on the brink of elimination from the Vijay Hazare Trophy one-dayers, here on Saturday.
It was an off day for Jharkhand captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who struggled in his 47-ball 28 (4x3) before being bowled by left-arm spinner Mehdi Hasan in their modest 204-run chase.
Cruising to his second century in three matches, and fourth overall in list A, Saurabh slammed 102 from 104 balls. His knock was studded with seven sixes and five fours and Jharkhand needed 31 runs from 70 balls.
But Jharkhand collapsed after Saurabh holed out to Chama Milind at third man in the 39th over. Jharkhand lost six wickets for 44 runs in a stunning collapse to fold for 182 in 44.4 overs.
Hasan claimed 3/40, while Ravi Kiran, Chama Milind and Akash Bhandari took two apiece as Hyderabad made a stunning turnaround to post their fourth win from as many matches.
Karnataka and Hyderabad have 16 points each.
Having lost two from five matches, Jharkhand (12 points) will now have to post a big win against Jammu and Kashmir at Bengal Cricket Academy in Kalyani on March 6 to keep their hopes alive.
Earlier hundreds packed the ground located inside JU second campus and shouted 'Dhoni, Dhoni' who came in to bat after a familiar collapse left Jharkhand at 68/4 in 17.3 overs.
Dhoni survived a loud lBW appeal first ball against leg-spinner Akash Bhandari and built his innings slowly with Saurabh in full flow.
Before he could make it big Hasan bounced castled Dhoni to break the partnership for 70 runs that triggered the collapse.
Saurabh, however, remained unperturbed and counter-attacked Hasan slamming the left-arm spinner for three sixes and one boundary in the 37th over that yielded 23 runs.
Earlier Hyderabad were restricted to 203/8 in the stipulated 50 overs as their batsmen struggled to get going on a slow and low wicket after they were sent in by Dhoni.
Sumanth Kolla (48) was Hyderabad's top-scorer, while Bavanaka Sandeep (43) lent fine support at the other end in an 82-run third wicket partnership.
But the duo could not convert their starts with Dhoni using his spinner Shahbaz Nadeem brilliantly. The left-armer not only broke the partnership but ran through the middle-order with his 3/27.
Pant's 99 sets up Delhi win
Cuttack: Rishabh Pant struck a brilliant 72-ball 99 to help Delhi thrash Tripura by 70 runs in a Vijay Hazare Trophy Group B one-day match here on Saturday. Put into bat, Delhi plundered 356 for 5 from their allotted 50 overs with Pant hitting nine fours and five sixes in his aggressive innings. Dhruv Shorey (74 off 81) and Milind Kumar (72 off 48) also made significant contributions to push Delhi past 350 at the Barabati Stadium.
An unbeaten century from Yashpal Singh, 115 off 117 balls, kept Tripura in the hunt for the majority of the chase, but the middle and lower order failed to contribute much as Delhi's bowlers kept taking wickets.
In the end, Tripura fell 70 runs short after finishing with 286 for 8. Fast bowler Suboth Bhati took three wickets for Delhi.