Manish Pandey, KL Rahul star in Karnataka’s victory in Vijay Hazare Trophy

It was a Rahul and Pandey show all the way, as the duo hammered the Chhattisgarh bowlers.

Karnataka posted a decent 285/7 in their 50 overs, and managed to bundle out the opposition for 206 in 44 overs. Karnataka lost opener Devdutt Padikkal (8) and Karun Nair (1) quickly. But Rahul and Pandey had other plans, as they conjured up a solid 150-run stand for the third wicket.

Rahul, who was dropped from the Indian Test team against South Africa, made a statement of sorts to the national selectors.

He hit six fours and a lone six in his patient 103-ball knock, as he played second fiddle to Pandey.

For Chhattisgarh, pacer Pankaj Rao (2-60) and Shashank Singh (2-66) took two wickets each.

Pandey blasted a quick-fire 142 off just 118 balls, which included five fours and seven sixes.

While wickets kept falling at the other end, Pandey kept playing his shots and it was because of his incredible knock that Karnataka crossed the 280-run mark.

Karnataka pacers M Prasidh Krishana (3-31) and Ronit More (2-52) ran through the Chhattisgarh top order, and they were struggling at 3-68.

Then spinner Shreyas Gopal (3-53) spun his web around Chhattisgarh batsmen, as their chase never really took off.

For Chhattisgarh, Amandeep Khare fought a lone battle with 43 out of 62 balls. Amandeep was the last man to be dismissed, as Chhattisgarh’s innings folded up at 206.

Meanwhile, in the other Elite Group A match, Saurashtra thrashed Andhra by a whopping 153 runs, in which Samarth Vyas and Jaydev Unadkat shone with the bat and ball, respectively. In another match, Jharkhand pipped Kerala by five runs to grab four points in 36-over game that went down to the wire.

Odisha beat Himachal by 3 runs

Off-spinner Govinda Poddar grabbed four wickets for 27 runs to help Odisha beat Himachal Pradesh by a narrow three-run margin in a rain-curtailed Elite Group B match of the Vijay Hazare Trophy, here on Wednesday.

The match was delayed due to wet outfield and it was reduced to a 21-over-a-side affair with Himachal opting to bowl first at Sangramsinh Gaekwad Sports Academy.

Odisha could score 145 for 8 from the allotted 21 overs with Subhranshu Senapati top-scoring with a 34-ball 39 while Abhishek Yadav and Prayash Singh chipped in with 34 and 31 runs respectively.

For Himachal, Ankit Maini took three wickets while Pankaj Jaiswal grabbed two.

Chasing 146 for a win, Himachal were on course for a win, reaching 72 for one at the end of 10 overs before Poddar triggered a batting collapse with four wickets in a fine spin-bowling spell.

Himachal were reduced to 106 for 5 in the 17th over, adding just 34 runs in 6.3 overs while losing four wickets.

In the end, Himachal needed 12 runs from the final over but could only score eight to end their innings at 142 for 9 to lose by three runs.

Opener Prashant Chopra top-scored for Himachal.

Vohra hits century in big win for Chandigarh

Opener Manan Vohra smashed a 64-ball 108 not out as Chandigarh thrashed Arunachal Pradesh by 90 runs to secure their second successive win in the Plate Group of the Vijay Hazare Trophy one-day tournament here on Wednesday.

Skipper Vohra struck eight fours and as many sixes in his unbeaten knock as Chandigarh posted a massive 207/2 after the match was reduced to 20-over-a-side because of wet outfield at the Abhimanyu Cricket Academy here.

In reply, Arunachal Pradesh were restricted to 117/7 with left-arm spinner Gurinder Singh (4/12) once again returning with impressive figures to hand Chandigarh their second win in as many days.

For Arunachal Pradesh, Rahul Dalal remained not out on 76 but there was no support at the other end with Gurinder giving regular breakthroughs.

Chandigarh (10 points from three matches) climbed to second spot behind Puducherry who lead the Plate Group table on net run-rate after their 10-wicket win over Mizoram at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium here.

Opting to bat, Vohra cruised to his fifty in 35 balls as he and Arjun Azad (23) posted 50 runs in just 37 balls.

Azad could not carry on and lost his wicket two balls later. But there was no stopping Vohra who found a fine ally in Shivam Bhambri (68 from 36 balls; 9×4, 2×6) as the duo toyed Arunachal Pradesh attack in their 142-run stand that came off just 72 balls.