Round-up of the Vijay Hazare Trophy matches played on February 28, 2014

ESPNcricinfo staff28-Feb-2014 West ZoneGujarat were better disciplined in both departments to complete a last-ball victory over Mumbai, who have lost both their matches and languish at the bottom. Dhruv Raval (61) and Venugopal Rao (58) ensured the target of 233 was never beyond reach. However, Dhawal Kulkarni snared two wickets in the 36th over, including Raval’s to restore balance. Mumbai used the opening to push Gujarat to 194 for 6 in the 43rd over before Rao took charge again to lead them to a final-ball finish. The Mumbai top-order could not click and it was left to the captain Suryakumar Yadav, who hit a 67-ball 57 – the only half-century of the innings – to offer some structure to the score. Medium-pacer Jasprit Bumrah was the pick of the bowlers with 2 for 35 off his 12 overs.Half-centuries from Ankit Bawne (64) and Rahul Tripathi (62) built a score that proved just enough as the Maharashtra bowlers combined to sink Saurashtra by four runs. The duo’s 106-run partnership masked a feeble contribution from the openers. But both batsmen fell in the 35th over but the ensuing wobble was controlled by a Nitin Naik’s brisk cameo (42) to take the total to 254. Seamer Balkrishna Jadeja began well, but his three wickets cost 71 runs. Saurashtra’s reply was built on middle-order contributions as well, with Akshay Darekar dismissing three of the top four. Aarpit Vasavada managed a 67-ball 68 as he and Chirag Jani (42) kept the chase alive with an 86-run stand for the sixth wicket. Bu the tail could not muster the same resolve as the last two batsmen were run-out to end the game. Central Zone Madhya Pradesh began their Vijay Hazare campaign in dramatic fashion, with a tie against Uttar Pradesh in a rain-shorted match in Jaipur. The rain arrived soon after the toss in the morning, and almost wiped out the game, but eventually the officials were able to fit in the minimum 20-overs per side. In the wet conditions, however, MP, who were inserted, could not score at T20 pace. They finished at little over a run a ball, on 137 for 6. Medium pacer Amit Mishra, while one of UP’s more expensive bowlers, was also their most effective, taking 4 for 38. In the reply, several of UP’s top order got starts – four of the top six got into the 20s – but none could kick on to seal the game. As they fell to 118 for 8 in the 19th over, it was left to allrounder Piyush Chawla to get the big hit away; he managed to once, but could not do enough to get the team over the line.The match between Railways and Vidarbha in Jaipur was abandoned without a ball being bowled owing to wet weather. South ZoneTamil Nadu thumped Andhra by eight wickets, with almost 20 overs to spare, to register their second win in as many games in the tournament. Tamil Nadu chose to bowl and pace bowler Yo Mahesh justified that decision, running through Andhra’s top and middle order. Mahesh took 5 for 31 as only one of Andhra’s top eight got into double digits. It took a dogged 37 from No. 9 T Atchuta Rao to get them past the 100 mark; they were bowled out for 126 in the 42nd over. Tamil Nadu’s openers, M Vijay and U Sushil, then all but sealed the game, putting on 84 in 20 overs. Vijay was out soon after completing a half-century, to legspinner Swaroop Kumar – who also took out B Aparajith first ball – before captain S Badrinath saw the game through with Sushil.An unbeaten half-century from Ashish Reddy helped Hyderabad record the second tie of the day, against Karnataka in Bangalore. The scores finished level after a seesawing Hyderabad innings: after looking strong at 142 for 2 in 31 overs in pursuit of 248, they fell prey to Karnataka’s seamers and slid to 165 for 6 before Reddy’s counterattacking 51 off 40 got them two points from the match. Abhimanyu Mithun triggered the mini-collapse, getting Ravi Teja caught behind. Vinay Kumar then cashed in, claiming three quickly on his way to a five-for. Earlier, Karnataka had got to 248 for 8 on the back of a team showing – all but one player got into double digits, and three got into the 40s though there was no half-century.Kerela captain Sachin Baby struck a brisk 89 to shepherd a modest chase as his side beat Goa by wickets. Goa suffered an early blow when Swapnil Asnodkar had to retire hurt on 33. Regular wickets tumbled starting with Sandeep Warrier nipping out two in successive overs. Harshad Gadekar and No.9 Robin D’Souza shared a 52-run stand for the seventh wicket to push the score past 200 but the eventual target was not threatening. Prasanth Parameswaran mopped up the tail to end up with 4 for 36 off his nine overs. The chase was primarily built around Baby as he guided two half-century stands for the fourth and fifth wickets and though he could not finish the game off, by the time he got out there were only 38 runs with over 10 overs left.