Punjab coast to win over Vidarbha

NEW DELHI, february 25

Favourites Punjab cruised to an easy six wicket win over Vidarbha in their Group A league encounter of the Vijay Hazare Trophy with skipper Harbhajan Singh bowling an economical spell and Mandeep Singh blasting an unbeaten 86.

Batting first, Vidarbha were bowled out for 218 in 49.3 overs with Ambati Rayudu scoring 86 off 109 balls. He hit six boundaries and three sixes.

Punjab pacers Manpreet Gony (2/50) and Siddharth Kaul (4/33) bowled well while skipper Harbhajan was the most economical among the bowlers, giving away 29 runs in his 10 overs and getting Apoorv Wankhede’s wicket.

In reply, Punjab knocked off the runs with 53 balls to spare with Mandeep anchoring the chase, hitting nine boundaries and two sixes. Former India A player Manan Vohra made 50 runs while current India U-19 limited-overs captain Abhishek Sharma struck 46 off 37 balls at the Ferozeshah Kotla.

Dhoni scores 43 but Jharkhand lose to Karnataka 

Kolkata: MS Dhoni hit a couple of towering sixes in his 43 but once again failed as a finisher with Karnataka pipping Jharkhand by five runs in their Group D league encounter. More than 1000 people turned up at the Eden Gardens to see Dhoni play. He did bat for a period but as luck would have it, Jharkhand were all out for 261 in 49.5 overs after Karnataka scored 266 in 49.4 overs. For Karnataka, IPL specialist Manish Pandey scored 77. Jharkhand skipper Dhoni and the burly Saurabh Tiwary (68) added 81 runs for the fifth wicket after coming to bat at 79/4. — PTI