The 17th season of the Indian domestic One-day tournament, the 2018-19 Vijay Hazare Trophy has started. The tournament has already seen many brilliant performances including the world record by Shahbaz Nadeem, who picked the best bowling figures in List-A cricket, 8/10 playing for Jharkhand against Rajasthan.
Let’s take a look at the top 5 performers of the 3rd day of the Vijay Hazare Trophy 2018/19:
GURKEERAT MANN- 85*, PUN v VID
Punjab met Vidarbha at the Alur Cricket Stadium-II, Bangalore and was put in to bat first by Vidarbha captain Faiz Fazal.
Openers gave Punjab a solid start with Manan Vohra making 27 and Shubman Gill making 24. However, it was the old warhorse Yuvraj Singh (41) and the young stallion Gurkeerat Mann (85* in 80 balls with 2 sixes and 7 fours) took Punjab to a strong total batting first. The lower order contributed and Punjab put on a brilliant 278/7 in 50 overs.
Gurkeerat Mann was brilliant against the Vidarbha bowlers, especially fast bowlers Rajneesh Gurbani and SB Wagh. He negotiated Umesh Yadav and spinner Karnewar and Wakhare nicely to keep scoring at a good rate.
SHREYAS IYER – 110, MUM v KAR
Karnataka captain R Vinay Kumar won the toss and asked Mumbai to bat on a typical Bengaluru pitch. It was a decision that he regretted as Mumbai piled up 362/5 in 50 overs with two batsmen making centuries and opener Shaw scoring 60 off 53 balls.
Shreyas Iyer impressed one and all with a brilliant 110 off just 83 balls with 5 fours and 8 sixes. He piled on the misery on the Karnataka bowlers especially Abhimanyu Mithun and Vinay Kumar. Even Stuart Binny went for 50 runs in his 6 overs. Iyer’s century enabled Mumbai to post a mountain like a target, which despite their best efforts; Karnataka was not able to be achieved and lost the match by 88 runs.
NITISH RANA – 91*, DEL v HYD
Hyderabad was hosted by Delhi at the Feroz Shah Kotla and they chose to bat first after winning the toss. However, a four-wicket haul by Manan Sharma (4/42) asphyxiated them to a total of 205 and that too due to 51 from B Sandeep.
Delhi’s chase was made hard by quick wickets of Unmukt Chand and Dhruv Shorey. But Gambhir (41) and Nitish Rana (91* in 87 balls with 12 fours and 2 sixes), took Delhi to 178/4 and Delhi won the match by 6 wickets via VJD method.
AMIT MISHRA – 6/13, HAR v ASSAM
The MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai saw Assam take on Haryana in the Vijay Hazare trophy. Assam chose to bat first and chose wrong. Only three batsmen reached double figures with Riyan Parag top scoring with 24, as Haryana captain Amit Mishra ran through the Assam lineup like a knife through warm butter.
Amit Mishra picked 6/13 and with Arun Chaprana picking 3/4, together they routed Assam for 81 runs. Haryana reached the target with 8 wickets in hand.
AJINKYA RAHANE 148 – MUM v HAR
In the same Mumbai versus Karnataka match, where Shreyas Iyer hit 110, Mumbai captain Ajinkya Rahane staked his claim for a return to India’s ODI team with a brilliant 148 off 150 balls with 13 fours and 3 sixes. Rahane was fluent with his stroke play and punished his Karnataka counterpart R Vinay Kumar and A Mithun for their erroneous bowling.
Mumbai out 362/5 in 50 overs and won the match by 88 runs as Karnataka was bundled up for 274 with SZ Mulani picking 4/71.
