Vijay Hazare Trophy 2022: Maharashtra reach final after defeating Assam by 12 runs

Rajvardhan Hangargekar's aggressive bowling helped Maharashtra to advance to the final of the Vijay Hazare Trophy as they defeated Assam by 12 runs in the semifinal match played here at Narendra Modi Stadium on November 30.

Despite proving expensive for Maharashtra, Hangargekar clinched 4 wickets and managed to snatch the match from Assam and was well accompanied by other bowlers as Manoj Ingale grabbed two wickets while Satyajeet Bachhav and Shamshuzama Kazi took one wicket each.

While chasing a target of 351, Assam didn't get a good start as they lost the first two wickets with R Hazarika sent pavilion in the second over while Kunal Saikia was dismissed in the 11th over.

Assam, after losing the two wickets, they were on 62/2. However, Rishav Das counter the Maharashtra bowlers and showed some quality cricket on the field completing his half-century.

Later, Shamshuzama Kazi dismissed Das and yet again Assam was under pressure as Riyan Prag who performed exceptionally well in the last match against Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) failed to score big in this match as he was sent to the pavilion after 15 runs off 11 balls.

At the time, Parag was walked out of the field, Assam were on 84/3 in the 15th over. 

Since Das was on the crease there was a ray of hope and fans were expecting some miracles from him in the 16th over. However, he too was shown the way to the pavilion.

Despite wickets falling from one side, Sibsankar Roy (78) took Assam near to victory before walking back to the pavilion over Manoj Ingale's delivery. Roy struck 78 off 63 balls with the help of 9 fours and 2 sixes.     

The rest was well executed by Purakayastha who scored 95 runs off 87 balls with the help of 10 fours and 1 six but in the 45th over when Assam was almost narrowing the gap, he was caught over Hangargekar's delivery. With his dismissal, all the hopes also vanished.

Mukhtar Hussain and Avinav Choudhury tried but couldn't manage the damage which the team had suffered earlier.

Earlier, Assam won the toss and opted to bowl, and taking this opportunity, Maharashtra with the splendid performance of Ruturaj Gaikwad and Ankit Bawne.

However, Maharashtra suffered at the beginning of the match with the dismissal of their opener R. Tripathi who walked back to the pavilion in the sixth over after scoring three runs.

By the time, the team could recover from the early shock, Assam again surprised them as they managed to dismiss S Bachhav (41) in 21th over. At that time Maharashtra team was 95/2.

After the early shock, Ruturaj came and took the charge, and during that he was well accompanied by colleague Bawne before their dismissal, they have already done their work. 

Both Ruturaj and Bawne both stayed on the crease and thrashed Assam bowlers and help their team to post a total of 350.

Ruturaj scored 168 off 126 balls with the help of 18 fours and 6 sixes while Bawne with the help of 10 fours and 2 sixes scored 110 off 89 balls.

Before this match, if we look at his List A career, Ruturaj had scored 3758 runs in 70 matches at an average of 58.71. During this, he had scored 13 centuries and 16 half-centuries. Now, he has scored another century and with this, his batting average has gone above 60.   

From the Assam side, Mukhtar Hussain was the most successful bowler as he clinched three wickets.

Also read: Vijay Hazare Trophy 2022: Riyan Parag's ton helps Assam to reach the semifinal