India's Test specialist Ajinkya Rahane, who was snubbed from India's squad for the upcoming Bangladesh tour, proved that he still has a lot of cricket left in him as he along with Tanunsh Kotian powered Mumbai to an eight-wicket victory over Bengal in the Group E match of the Vijay Hazare Trophy one-day tournament on Saturday. In another match, veterans Ishant Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan contributed to Delhi's five-wicket win over Vidarbha.
Kotian grabbed a career-best 4/31 with his off-spin prowess and got down to business after his pace colleagues Tushar Desphande (2/23) and Mohit Avasthi (1/29) handed Bengal early blows. The 24-year-old Kotian and his spin partner Shams Mulani (2/14) bagged six wickets between themselves as Bengal were skittled out for a paltry 121 in 31.3 overs after Mumbai elected to field. Skipper Anjinkya Rahane anchored the Mumbai chase with an unbeaten 59 from 72 balls (6x4, 2x6) to take the team home in 30.2 overs.
Bengal speedster Mukesh Kumar (2/20) dismissed Mumbai openers Prithiv Shaw (26) and Yashasvi Jaiswal (10) for the addition of just 10 runs, but Rahane held their innings together in a match-winning 75-run unbroken partnership with wicketkeeper-batter Hardik Tamore (18 not out).
Earlier, Bengal batters showed complete lack of application and lost half of their side inside 12 overs.
Seasoned opener Writtick Chatterjee (1) continued his horror show with the bat and got out for his seventh successive single-digit score across formats, after being trapped by Deshpande.
Talented India 'A' batter and Bengal skipper Abhimanyu Easwaran (12) got off to a good start but continued his woeful run with the bat, while the experienced Anustup Majumdar also fell for a single digit score with the Mumbai pace attack ratting the top-three.
Veteran Manoj Tiwary held fort for Bengal with a resolute 47 from 64 balls (5x4, 1x6) but wickets kept falling around him. He somehow helped the team get past the 100-run mark with some useful contribution from No. 11 Mukesh Kumar (10 not out).
Kotian, who had dished out a fine all-round show and hit the winning runs for Mumbai in their maiden SMAT triumph, dried up the runs in the middle overs en route to his four-wicket haul.
Left-arm spinner Mulani ended the resistance of Tiwary and cleaned up Geet Puri in his next over to terminate Bengal innings. After the opening day's action, Puducherry, who defeated Mizoram by seven wickets, lead Group E on net run-rate, while Mumbai and Maharashtra occupy second and third spots respectively.
Maharashtra defeated Railways by seven wickets with opener Ruturaj Gaikwad slamming a 124 not out. He and Rahul Tripathi (75) put together an opening partnership of 165 runs as Maharashtra chased down the modest target of 219 with 70 balls to spare.
Delhi bully Vidarbha
Veterans Ishant Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan contributed to Delhi's five-wicket win over Vidarbha in their opening Vijay Hazare Trophy match. Ishant (3/24) struck thrice as Delhi limited Vidarbha to 207 after opting to field in a Group B game.
Ganesh Satish top-scored for Vidarbha with 45 off 74 balls. Delhi chased down the target in 44.5 overs with Dhawan making 47 off 64 balls. Lalit Yadav stayed unbeaten till the end with 56 off 73 balls.
Dhawan, who plays only in ODIs for India, will captain the national team in the three games in New Zealand later this month Batting at number three, Yash Dhull smashed 37 off 27 balls.
Other matches:
Karnataka 259 in 50 overs (Shreyas Gopal 64, Mayank Agarwal 15; Abhishek Kumar 3/54). Meghalya 144 all out in 46 overs (Surya Rai 38; Shreyas Gopal 3/21). Karnataka win by 115 runs.
Jharkhand 309/3 in 50 overs (Virat Singh 75, Saurabh Tiwary 63 not out; Lee Yong Lepcha 2/38). Sikkim 116 all out in 40.1 overs (Sumit Singh 31; Rahul Shukla 5/19). Jharkhand won by 193 runs.
Railways 218/8 in 50 overs (Shivam Chaudhary 46, Karn Sharma 40; Shamshuzama Kazi 2/26) lost to Maharashtra 219/3 in 38.2 overs (Ruturaj Gaikwad 124 not out, Rahul Tripathi 75) by seven wickets.
Bengal 121 in 31.3 overs (Manoj Tiwary 47; Tanush Kotian 4/31, Shams Mulani 2/14, Tushar Deshpande 2/23) lost to Mumbai 123/3 in 30.2 overs (Ajinkya Rahane 59 not out; Mukesh Kumar 2/20) by eight wickets.
Mizoram 156/8 in 50 overs (Shreevats Goswami 63, Vikash Kumar 41; Ankit Sharma 3/33) lost to Puducherry 158/3 in 29.4 overs (Arun Karthik 59 not out, Ramachandran Ragupathy 47) by seven wickets.
