PTI
CHENNAI
Rajat Patidar continued his strong form, hammering an unbeaten 124 off 85 balls to power Madhya Pradesh to a crushing eight-wicket win over Goa on Sunday with 24.2 overs to spare in the Vijay Hazare Trophy Group ‘C’ League in Chennai.
Andhra, meanwhile, piled more misery on defending champions Tamil Nadu, posting a 29-run win. It was the hosts’ fourth straight loss in the tournament.
Chasing a modest 221 for victory, Patidar seemed to carry on from where he left against Tamil Nadu (in which he scored 158) and toyed with the Goa attack at the M A Chidambaram stadium, hitting 13 fours and hoisting seven sixes. Wicketkeeper-batsman Naman Ojha had set the tempo for MP with a quick-fire 50 (26 balls, 4x4, 4x6) in an opening stand of 81 to put the team on road to victory.
Earlier, Goa couldn’t capitalise on Swapnil Asnodkar’s strokeful knock of 85 (96 balls, 10x4, 1x6) and collapsed to 220 all out in 48.3 overs from 133 for 2. Sohraab Dhaliwal and Anshul Tripathi took three wickets each for MP.
In the Andhra-Tamil Nadu game, the former rode on half centuries from opener K S Bharat (82), B Sumanth (62 not out) and Ricky Bhui (52) to post a competitive 276 for 6 in 50 overs. In reply, Tamil Nadu could only muster 247 in 48.5 overs with only J Kousik (56) getting a half-century.
In another match, Gujarat thumped Team Rajasthan by seven wickets, romping to a win in 33.2 overs after bowling out its rival for 172 in 47.3 overs. Priyank Panchal scored 55 before being run-out and guided the chase after skipper Parthiv Patel, who returned to the side after missing the first three matches, fell for a duck.
