Vijay Hazare Trophy: Abhishek Raut's Fifer Hands Odisha Third Straight Win

Leg-spinner Abhishek Raut picked up a fifer, his career-best figures, to help Odisha beat Vidharbha by six wickets in a Group A match of the Vijay Hazare One-Day Nationals on Saturday. Electing to field, Raut spun the web around opposition batters, registering figures of 5 for 36 to restrict Vidhrabha to a below-par 148. Skipper Subhranshu Senapati (71 not out) and Anurag Sarangi (52) then struck a fifty each to guide Odisha home in 42 overs with four wickets in hand.

Besides Raut, pacer Debabrata Pradhan picked up three wickets for 13 runs from his seven overs.

This was Odisha's third win on the trot after victories over Andhra (by 63 runs) and Gujarat (by 3 wickets).

In another Group A match in Mumbai, Himachal Pradesh defeated Gujarat by 97 runs to register their second consecutive win.

Sent into bat, Prasanth Chopra (73), Amit Kumar (72) and skipper Rishi Dhawan (57) hit fine half-centuries to help HP pile up a commanding 310 for nine.

Chintan Gaja picked up four wickets for Gujarat giving away 71 runs.

Chasing, Gujarat were never in the hunt as they lost half of their side for 50 runs.

Leg-spinner Piyush Chawla (65 off 61) and Bhargav Merai (50 off 70) scored fifties but it was not enough as Gujarat were bowled out for 213 in 42.2 overs.

Vinay Galetia (3/37) and Sumit Verma (3/23) shone with the ball for HP.

Brief Scores:

Vidharbha 148 all out in 42.4 overs (Akshay Wadkar 42; Abhishek Raut 5/36) lost by 6 wickets to Odisha 152 for 4 in 42 overs (Subhranshu Senapati 71 not out, Anrurag Sarangi 52; Atharva Taide 2/8).

Jammu and Kashmir 208 all out in 48.3 overs (Ram Dayal 116; Girinath Reddy 4/29) lost by 2 wickets to Andhra 209 for 8 in 49 overs (Ricky Bhui 56; Auqib Nabi 3/25).

Himachal Pradesh 310 for 9 in 50 overs (Prashant Chopra 73, Amit Kumar 72, Rishi Dhawan 57; Chintan Gaja 4/71) bet Gujarat 213 all out in 42.2 overs (Piyush Chawla 65, Bhargav Merai 50; Sumeet Verma 3/23).