Rajasthan on Tuesday suffered the ignominy of getting bowled out for a paltry score of 35 against Railways in a central zone leg match of the Vijay Hazare Trophy here.
Railways won the match in only 5.3 overs losing a single wicket as the match lasted a total of 21 overs at the old Vidarbha Cricket Association ground at the Civil lines.
This is the second lowest score by a team in the history of India’s domestic one day competition. The lowest score in list A in India was Saurashtra’s 34 against Mumbai back in the year 2000.
Across the globe, this is the seventh lowest score in first-class cricket. Rajasthan skipper Pankaj Singh opted for batting but the Rajasthan players strangely lacked stomach for fight with as many as five batsman were out without scoring.
Railways seamers Anureet Singh (5/16 in 8 overs) and Amit Mishra (5/18 in 7.3 overs) shared the spoils. The highest score was Arjit Gupta’s 13, which incidentally was the only double digit score by a batsman.
When asked about such dismal score, Railways skipper Mahesh Rawat was quick to point out that there were no demons in the pitch.
“On Monday, we played at the same ground and both teams scored in the range of 240 plus. So you can’t simply blame the pitch. The pitch was fine and there were no demons. Our opening bowlers were brilliant from the start. We have young Bilaspur boy Amit, who bowls outswing at a decent pace and we had Anureet, who is a seasoned campaigner at this level,” skipper Rawat said.
“The areas that our new ball bowlers bowled was brilliant and it became difficult for their batsmen. They wilted under pressure created by out bowlers,” said Rawat.
Brief Scores — Rajasthan: 35 in 15.3 overs (Anureet Singh 5/16, Amit Mishra 5/18) lost to Railways: 39/1 in 5.3 overs (Asad Pathan 20) by 9 wickets.
Wriddhiman shines
Kolkata: Wriddhiman Saha showed his prowess with the willow as his unbeaten 69-ball-84 was key to Bengal’s crushing 163-run win.
With two comprehensive wins from two games, Bengal are all but through to the knock-out rounds.
Brief Scores — Bengal: 310/3 (Wriddhiman Saha 84*, laxman Ratan Shukla 71*, Arindam Das 74) beat Jharkhand: 147 (Ashoke Dinda 5/29) by 163 runs.
Goa stun TN
Secunderabad: Robin D’Souza (3/36) and S S Bandekar (3/43) shared half a dozen wickets between them as Goa stunned Tamil Nadu by registering a six-wicket win. After putting them in to bat, Goa bundled out Tamil Nadu for a meagre 182 in 49.2 overs and then chased down the target in just 33.2 overs, losing just four wickets.
Brief Scores — Tamil Nadu: 182 (R Sathish 67; Robin Dsouza 3/36, S S Bandekar 3/43) lost to Goa: 184/4 (Swapnil Asnodkar 77, Amogh Desai 68) by 6 wickets.
Tripura lose to Odisha
Kalyani: Tripura saw four run outs in their innings as the Yogesh Takawale-led side fell short by three runs in a low-scoring thriller against Odisha. Needing a modest 196 for a win at the Bengal Cricket Academy Ground, Tripura made a mockery of their chase to be bundled out for 192.
Brief Scores — Odisha: 195 (Anurag Sarangi 68; Tushar Saha 3/38) beat Tripura: 192 (Udiyan Bose 43, Sanjay Majumdar 33*; Deepak Behera 2/21) by 3 runs.
Hooda, Pathan shine in Baroda win
Ahmedabad: Deepak Hooda and Yusuf Pathan smashed half-centuries each to power Baroda to a comfortable seven-wicket win over Maharashtra. Hooda struck a run-a-ball 88 that included six boundaries and five sixes while Pathan scored an unbeaten 82 off 93 deliveries as the duo shared 104 runs for the third wicket to lay the foundation for Baroda’s easy win. Earlier opting to bat, Ankit Bawane hit an unbeaten 102 off 127 deliveries before Maharashtra were bowled out for 243.
Brief Scores — Maharashtra: 243 (Ankit Bawne 102, Rohit Motwani 40; Yusuf Pathan 2/27) lost to Baroda: 244/3 (Deepak Hooda 88, Yusuf Pathan 82*) by 7 wickets.
Vidarbha win via VJD
Nagpur: Vidarbha got the better off Madhya Pradesh by four wickets via the VJD method. Madhya Pradesh were all out for a modest total of 193 in 48.2 overs and in reply, Vidarbha managed to reach the revised target of 164 in a rain-interrupted match. Vidarbha needed to score the required runs in 39 overs, but they achieve it in 38th overs itself.
Brief Scores — Madhya Pradesh: 193 (Jalaj Saxena 71; Ravi Thakur 4/43) lost to Vidarbha: 167/6 (Jitesh Sharma 43, Ravi Jangid 32; Jalaj Saxena 3/37, Ankit Sharma 3/38) by 4 wickets via VJD method.
Karnataka register easy win over Hyderabad
Hyderabad: Karnataka dished out yet another commanding batting display to beat hosts Hyderabad by five wickets in a high-scoring match. Chasing a challenging 295 for seven set by Hyderabad, the top four Karnakata batsmen struck half-centuries to seal the match for their side with 12 balls to spare.
Brief Scores — Hyderabad: 295/7 (Tanmay Agarwal 136, Hanuma Vihari 82, Ashish Reddy 51; Arvind Sreenath 4/41) lost to Karnataka: 300/5 (Shishir Bhavane 81, Mayank Agarwal 70; Amol Shinde 2/52) by 5 wickets.
Smit’s 146 helps Gujarat thrash Saurashtra
Ahmedabad: Opener Smit Patel slammed a brilliant 146 to help Gujarat thrash Saurashtra by 83 runs. Put into bat, Gujarat sent the Saurashtra bowlers for a leather hunt to pile up 348 for four. Gujarat then restricted Saurashtra to 265 for eight to register a comprehensive win at the Motera ‘A’ Ground. Patel first shared 143 runs for the opening wicket with P K Panchal (74) and then had another 107-run stand with Venugopal Rao (64) to take Gujarat to a huge score.
Brief Scores — Gujarat: 348/4 (Smit Patel 146, P K Panchal 74, Venugopal Rao 64; Sudeep Tyagi 2/66) beat Saurashtra: 265/8 (Sheldon Jackson 81; Rush Kalaria 3/39) by 83 runs.