Riding on Bharat’s blazing 156 off 138 balls, barely two days after his 161-run knock against Himachal Pradesh, a struggling Andhra managed to post 253 for nine after batting first.
Captain Srikar Bharat’s second successive hundred powered Andhra to an 81-run win over Gujarat in their Elite Group A match of the Vijay Hazare Trophy here on Tuesday. Riding on Bharat’s blazing 156 off 138 balls, barely two days after his 161-run knock against Himachal Pradesh, a struggling Andhra managed to post 253 for nine after batting first. Bharat smashed seven sixes and 16 fours during his knock.
In reply, Gujarat were all out for 172 in 41.3 overs with left-arm spinner Manish Golamaru picking 4/30.
In another Group A match, skipper Faiz Fazal struck an unbeaten hundred as Vidarbha comfortably beat Jammu and Kashmir by five wickets.
Chasing 234 to win after opting to bowl first, Vidarbha rode on their experienced skipper’s 102 off 110 balls to complete the task with as many seven overs to spare at the Bandra Kurla Complex.
The game seemed to have opened up a bit after Vidarbha lost their fourth wicket in the form of Yash Rathod with the score reading 81 for four in the 18th over.
However, by the time the next batter got out, Vidarbha were only four shy of the target, thanks to a match-winning partnership of 149 runs between Fazal and Apoorv Wankhade, who made 79 off 80 balls.
While opener Fazal decorated his knock with 12 hits to the fence, Wankhade hit eight fours and two sixes during his stay in the middle.
For Jammu and Kashmir, Ram Dayal was the most successful bowler as he returned figures of 2/40 in eight overs.
Leg-spinner Parvez Rasool, who has been a part of the Indian team in the past, picked up one wicket for 44 runs in his full quota of 10 overs.
Earlier, had it not been for an 80-run stand for the ninth wicket Rasool (50) and wicketkeeper Fazil Rashid (73), J&K would have folded for a much lower total than the 233 they achieved in the end.
Batting at number 10, Auqib Nabi made 27.
J&K were reeling at 130 for eight in the 35th over before the lower-order batters came to their rescue.
Yash Tahkur and Aditya Sarwate took three wickets apiece for Vidarbha.
Brief Scores:Jammu and Kashmir: 233 all out in 49.3 overs (Parvez Rasool 50, Fazil Rashid 73; Yash Tahkur 3/58, Aditya Sarwate 3/36) lost to Vidarbha 236/5 in 43 overs (Faiz Fazal 102 not out, Apoorv Wankhade 79) by 5 wickets.
Himachal Pradesh 360/5 in 50 overs (Nikhil Gangta 81, Rishi Dhawan 91) beat Odisha 297 all out in 45.1 overs (Subhranshu Senapati 82; Mayank Dagar 6/59) by 63 runs.
Andhra: 253/9 in 50 overs (Srikar Bharat 156) beat Gujarat 172 all out in 41.3 overs (Umang Kumar 55; Manish Golamaru 4/30) by 81 runs. PTI AH AH AT AT