Captain Virat Singh’s majestic 143 off 116 balls helped Jharkhand chase down 356 against Maharashtra in the first round of Vijay Hazare Trophy Group B fixtures in Jaipur on Thursday.
The team had a poor start to the chase, with Pradeep Dadhe inducing Aryaman Sen’s edge off the second ball before removing Nazim Siddiquie, who chipped an easy catch to short square leg.
Virat and Vikas Vishal then steadied the ship, putting on 144 runs for the fourth wicket, off just 116 deliveries, to take the fight to the opposition.
Vishal was bowled by leg-spinner Prashant Solanki right after his fifty, but Virat continued in the same vein ably supported by the experienced Saurabh Tiwary.
The 25-year-old put on 91 runs with Tiwary, bringing up his century in the process. The partnership was finally broken when Virat’s attempted lofted shot off Solanki found the long on fielder.
Wicketkeeper-batter Kumar Kushagra then scored 67 off just 36 balls, laced with five sixes, stitching an unbeaten 107-run partnership with Tiwary (70 off 64 balls) to take Jharkhand over the line with two overs to spare.
Vijay Hazare Trophy 2023 round 1 highlights
Earlier in the day, Maharashtra got off to a solid start with opener Om Bhosale taking on the pacers inside the first PowerPlay. The debutant brought out his full array of off-side strokes as he punished anything slightly fuller or wider.
He brought up his half century with a lofted cut shot through backward point and combined with Naushad Shaikh for 83 runs in the first ten overs.
Shaikh was the first to be dismissed, top-edging a slightly wider delivery from Varun Aaron and Om was dismissed soon after, mistiming a shot straight to Tiwary off Sushant Mishra.
Ankeet Bawne and Kedar Jadhav then complimented each other against the spinners, putting up a 104-run partnership, before Jadhav perished for 55. While Jadhav swept anything full offered by the spinners, Bawne gleefully pulled the short deliveries over midwicket.
Azim Kazi then smashed five fours and four sixes to score a quick-fire 61 off 41, while Bawne batted on at the other end, completing his century in the last over to take his team to a challenging total, which was eventually chased down by the opposition.
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