JAIPUR:
Tripura
beat
Meghalaya
by nine wickets in their final
Vijay Hazare Trophy
Plate group match on Tuesday to finish with an unbeaten record and qualify for the knockout phase.
With both Tripura and Meghalaya locked on four wins from four games, the fifth match on Tuesday was a direct shootout for a spot in the next round and the former eased home after bundling out its opponent for 116 in 39.5 overs.
Chasing 117 for a win, opener
Bishal Ghosh and
Samit Gohel slammed half-centuries to knock off the required runs in 28 overs and secured Tripura's progress in the national 50-over tournament.
Earlier, leg-spinner
Amit Ali
picked up five wickets in 7.5 overs to stymie the opposition batting line-up with none being able to play a long innings to support opener Chirag Khurana who scored a fighting 55 (90 balls, 5x4). Khurana was one of Ali's victims.
Tripura finished with 20 points from five matches to top the Plate group and advanced while Meghalaya was second (16 points, 4 wins,1 loss) and Bihar third (12 points, three wins, 2 losses). Nagaland also had three wins and 12 points but was fourth due to an inferior net run-rate.
Brief scores: Meghalaya 116 all out in 39.5 overs (Chirag Khurana 55, Amit Ali 5/26) lost to Tripura 118 for 1 in 28 overs (Samit Gohel 55 not out, Bishal Ghosh 51 not out) by nine wickets. Tripura: 4 points, Meghalaya: 0.
Arunachal Pradesh 83 all out in 21.3 overs (Rajesh Bishnoi 25, Malay Raj 5/38, Sachin Kumar 3/6) lost to Bihar 87 for 4 in 19.1 overs (Pratyush Singh 28 not out) by six wickets. Bihar: 4 points, Arunachal: 0.
Sikkim 230 for 9 in 50 overs (Codanda Ajit Karthik 45, Kranthi Kumar 29, Homendro Kabrambam 3/34) lost to Manipur 234 for 8 in 50 overs (Jayanta 50, M Langlonyamba 52, Nitesh 45, Karthik 3/42) by two wickets. Manipur: 4 points, Sikkim: 0.
Nagaland 236 for 8 in 50 overs (Abu Nechim 62 not out, Rongsen Jonathan 51, Chetan Bist 48, Parvez Ahmed 3/49) beat Mizoram 156 all out in 48 overs (Uday Kaul 39, Iqbal Abdulla 32, Imliwati Lemtur 4/23) by 80 runs. Nagaland: 4 points, Mizoram: 0.