HIMACHAL 197/3 | Overs 43.2 | Live Cricket Score, Vijay Hazare Trophy 2015-16, Himachal vs Saurashtra Group D match at Rajkot: Himachal wins by 7 wickets; gets 4 points

HIMACHAL 197/3 | Overs 43.2 | Live Cricket Score, Vijay Hazare Trophy 2015-16, Himachal vs Saurashtra Group D match at Rajkot: Himachal wins by 7 wickets; gets 4 points

Hello and welcome to CricketCountry’s live coverage of Himachal and Saurashtra, Group D match at Rajkot. While Saurashtra are the table toppers with two wins from two games, Himachal have managed one victory from their two matches. Uttar Pradesh is on the second spot with two wins as well. Saurashtra had played two back-to-back fixtures against Madhya Pradesh and Goa respectively. Meanwhile, Himachal had begun their campaign with a loss to Uttar Pradesh. Batting first, Uttar Pradesh had posted a first innings total of 243 runs with Rishi dhawan top scoring for them with 67 runs in 64 deliveries. Their opponents had managed just eight wickets. Vijay Hazare 2015-16: Full coverage here

LIVE CRICKET SCORE: Himachal 197/3| Overs 43.2 | Target 196 | BATTING: Paras Dogra 25(28), Rishi Dhawan 6(12): Robin Bist is caught by Avi Barot off Kamlesh Makwana’s delivery. He is unfortunate to miss out on his half century by just six runs. Paras Dogra and Rishi Dhawan carry their bat through Himachal’s innings. Himachal record a seven wicket victory with 6.4 overs (40 balls) remaining. They get four points. OUT! Robin Bist c Avi Barot b Kamlesh Makwana 44(64)

LIVE CRICKET SCORE: Himachal 174/2| Overs 38 | Target 196 | BATTING: Robin Bist 45(62), Paras Dogra 8(10): Ankush Bains gets out after a good 76-run knock. Paras Dogra is the new batsman at the crease. Robin Bist is approaching his half century and is just five runs short of it. Himachal is excruciatingly close to victory. They now need just 22 runs to win. OUT! Ankush Bains c Ravindra Jadeja b Kamlesh Makwana 76(109)

LIVE CRICKET SCORE: Himachal 146/1| Overs 32 | Target 196 | BATTING: Ankush Bains 75(104), Robin Bist 28(40): Ankush Bains is batting on 75 with the help of six boundaries and two shots which helped the ball land over the ropes. He has batted very well and thoroughly deserves to get to his century. Robin Bist on the other end is giving him a helping hand. Saurashtra have tried seven bowlers but only Punia succeeded in giving its team a breakthrough. Ravindra Jadeja has bowled 10 overs giving 38 runs but has not been able to pick up a wicket. Himachal now needs 50 runs to win. Match is totally in their hands now.

LIVE CRICKET SCORE: Himachal 104/1| Overs 24 | Target 196 | BATTING: Ankush Bains 49(75), Robin Bist 14(20): Himachal lose their first wicket in the form of Prashant Chopra. Prashant is cleaned up by Deepak Punia for 32 runs. Ankush Bains needs a run to get to his half century. He has hit six shots to the fence in his innings. Himachal now requires 92 runs to win in 156 deliveries. They have nine wickets in hand and are clear favourites to win this match. OUT! Prashant Chopra  b Deepak Punia 32(49)

LIVE CRICKET SCORE: Himachal 56/0| Overs 12 | Target 196 | BATTING: Ankush Bains 26(43), Prashant Chopra 27(29): Himachal have begun their chase of Saurashtra’s small score of 195 and they have started well. After 12 overs they have not lost a wicket and have already went past the 50-run mark. Ankush Bains and Prashant Chopra have hit three and five boundaries respectively. Himachal now requires 140 runs off 228 balls with all 10 wickets remaining.

INNINGS BREAK

LIVE CRICKET SCORE: Saurashtra 195| Overs 48.4 | BATTING: Kamlesh Makwana 12(16): Cheteshwar Pujara is caught by Ronit More off Pankaj Jaiswal’s delivery. He hit six boundaries in his 73-run knock. Jaiswal then cleans up Deepak Punia for 18. Shaurya Sanandia and Jaydev Unadkat soon follow suit. Saurashtra is bowled out for 195, not a big score but they have a good bowling. Let’s see if they can defend this total. OUT! Cheteshwar Pujara c Ronit More b Pankaj Jaiswal 73(113), OUT!  Deepak Punia B Pankaj Jaiswal 18(36), OUT! Shaurya Sanandia c Prashant Chopra b Ronit More 5(7), OUT! Jaydev Unadkat c Bipul Sharma b Rishi Dhawan 5(4)

LIVE CRICKET SCORE: Saurashtra 112/6| Overs 30.2 | BATTING: Cheteshwar Pujara 31(59), Deepak Punia 2(8): Rishi Dhawan and Ronit More are bowling pretty well. Both have helped Himachal to reduce Saurashtra for 112 for six; they have picked up two wickets each. Cheteshwar Pujara is striving hard to get a partnership going but no one is supporting him at the other end. He is batting very defencively having hit only two shots to the fence so far. Saurashtra are in danger of getting bowled out; they need a partnership. OUT! Sheldon Jackson c Prashnat Chopra b Ronit More 32(32), OUT!  Jaydev Shah c&b Rishi Dhawan 5(13), OUT! Ravindra Jadeja c Paras Dogra b Rishi Dhawan 9(15), OUT! Arpit Vasavada c Paras Dogra b Bipul Sharma 12(26), OUT! Chirag Jani run out SL Verma 3(11)

LIVE CRICKET SCORE: Saurashtra 53/1| Overs 9 | BATTING: Sheldon Jackson 32(31), Cheteshwar Pujara 7(4): Saurashtra are off to a flyer, although they have lost a wicket. They are batting at just a run less than run a ball. Sheldon Jackson has struck five shots to the fence and one for the maximum in his innings so far. OUT! Avi Barot c PK Dogra b Ronit More 11(19)

Toss: Saurashtra wins the toss and elects to bat first

Teams:

Himachal: Bipul Sharma (c), Ankush Bains (wk), Pankaj Jaswal, Rishi Dhawan, Robin Bist, Nikhil Gangta, Paras Dogra, Prashant Chopra, RK Singh, SL Verma, Ronit More

Saurashtra: Jaydev Shah (c), Sheldon Jackson (wk), Cheteshwar Pujara, Avi Barot, Arpit Vasavada, Chirag Jani, Kamlesh Makwana, Ravindra Jadeja, Shaurya Sanandia, Deepak Punia, Jaydev Unadkat

In reply to Uttar Pradesh’s 243, Himachal had a bad start losing opening batsman Samarth Singh in the very first over. After a fantastic show with the bat, Dhawan excelled with the ball as well as he made that breakthrough on the third ball of Himachal’s first over. Despite Eklavya Dwivedi’s century, Himachal failed to chase down the target. However, they made up for that loss by thrashing Bengal by 89 runs in their second fixture.

Meanwhile, Saurashtra after playing a very close first match against Madhya Pradesh which they won by 7 runs, they dominated their contest against Goa with a thumping win by 10 wickets.

Squads:

Saurashtra: Jaydev Shah (c), Sheldon Jackson (wk), Arpit Vasavada, Mohsin Ahmedbhai Dodia, Abhishek Bhat, Avi Barot,  Dharmendrasinh Jadeja, Ravindra Jadeja, Chirag Jani, Vandit Jivrajani, Sagar Jogiyani, Kamlesh Makwana, Cheteshwar Pujara, Deepak Punia,  Jaydev Unadkat.

Himachal: Bipul Sharma (c), Ankush Bains (wk), Pankaj Jaiswal, Rishi Dhawan, Robin Bist,  Nikhil Gangta, Paras Dogra, Prashant Chopra, RK Singh, SL Verma, Ronit More