Haryana trumped Rajasthan in a closely fought final match of the Vijay Hazare Trophy played on Saturday. The likes of Harshal Patel, Sumit Kumar and Rahul Tewatia brought out their best with the ball as Haryana defeated Rajasthan by 30 runs in the Vijay Hazare trophy final.
Chasing a decent sized total of 287 runs, Rajasthan lost some key wickets including their skipper Deepak Hooda earlier in the innings. However, Abhijeet Tomar (106 off 129 balls) alongside Kunal Singh Rathore (79 off 65 balls) stitched a decent partnership for Rajasthan. Once the duo got out, it was all Haryana bowlers as Harshal Patel and Sumit Kumar shared six wickets between them.
Earlier in the match, Haryana won the toss and opted to bat first as they reached a very competitive total of 287/8 from their quota of 50 overs. Haryana made an excellent start with their opener Ankit Kumar scoring 88 off 91 balls. He formed an excellent partnership with experienced skipper Ashok Menaria (70 off 96 balls).
At that point, Haryana seemed to be heading to around 260 and Rajasthan had regained a bit of grip on the match, but late cameos from Haryana’s all-rounders Nishant Sindhu, Rahul Tewatia and Sumit Kumar meant that Haryana post 287 runs on the board.
For Rajasthan, Aniket Choudhary (4/49), was magnificent with the ball. Leg-spinner, Rahul Chahar (1/39 off 9 overs), was not at his best but still economical. Arafat Khan picked up two wickets but was a bit expensive, so was the wicketless Khaleel Ahmed who opened the bowling for Rajasthan.