MS Dhoni top-scores for Jharkhand in losing cause against Gujarat

Dhoni-playing-for-JharkhandBengaluru , December 11: MS Dhoni top scored (44) for Jharkhand in their second match of the Vijay Hazare Trophy  against Gujarat. Jharkhand managed just 177 in their innings. Ishank Jaggi was the only other batsman to have made a significant contribution opening the innings as he finished with 34. In reply, Gujarat won in 40.5 overs, losing 4 wickets (179/4). Opener Priyank Kirit Panchal was the top scorer with 62 while left-hander Axar Patel remained unbeaten on 32 .Dhoni made just nine runs in his comeback game earlier against Jammu & Kashmir (J&K), but Jharkhand managed to win the match by five runs. This is a good opportunity for the Indian ODI captain  to get himself into good shape ahead of India’s tour of Australia . Dhoni will then return to India along with the team and play a T20 International (T20I) series against Sri Lanka ahead of ICC World T20 2016.

In Hyderabad Tamil Nadu produced an all-round display to beat Mumbai by 26 runs and register their second consecutive win in the Vijay Hazare tournament on Friday. Playing in Group A, Tamil Nadu now have eight points in their coffers. The southern side had earlier defeated Assam in their opening match on Thursday.

Sent into bat, Tamil Nadu piled up a huge 312 for the loss of seven wickets in 50 overs and then bowled out Mumbai for 286. Tamil Nadu rode on half-centuries from Baba Aparajith (77), Baba Indrajith (60 not out), Murali Vijay (55) and R Sathish (52) to get past the 300-run mark.

For Mumbai, Dhawal Kulkarni (3/47) picked up three wickets while Abhishek Nayar (2/56) accounted for two scalps. Chasing the mammoth score, opener Akhil Herwadkar (107) century went in vain as Mumbai failed to cross the final hurdle. Herwadkar century came off 86 balls with the help of 16 boundaries and one six. Besides Herwadkar, Shreyas Iyer (44) and Siddhesh Lad (47) were the two other batsmen to have scored significant runs for Mumbai. Leg-spinner Murugan Ashwin (3/38) was the pick of bowlers for Chennai with three wickets while pace duo of Rahil Shah (2/55) and M Mohammed (2/68) shared four wickets between them.

In another match in Hyderabad hosts Hyderabad were skittled out for 182 all out in 42.4 overs after being set a target of 238 by Punjab . Punjab captain Yuvraj Singh scored 36 runs . M Sidhana top scored for Punjab with 64 runs . Punjab won by 56 runs to register their first win of the tournament . Sidharth Kaul bagged 5 wickets for Punjab .