Vijay Hazare Trophy: Out-of-favour Indian star Deepak Hooda on Monday led his team Rajasthan into the quarterfinals of the Vijay Hazare Trophy. The Rajasthan side defeated Himachal Pradesh by 43 runs as captain Hooda and pacer Aniket Choudhary starred in the fifth win for their team. Notably, Haryana have also confirmed a direct entry into the quarterfinals as they thumped Karnataka in a lop-sided affair on December 3.
The victory for both these sides means that they have officially booked a spot in the eight-team quarterfinals. Rajasthan in Group D have 20 points and are on top of the points table. Meanwhile, Haryana are the table toppers in Group C with 24 points. The two sides now can't be displaced from the top of the standings.
Mumbai, Samson's Kerala in knockouts but not in quarters
Meanwhile, Group A teams Mumbai and Kerala have booked their places in knockouts but not in quarterfinals. Heavyweights Mumbai suffered a shocking loss to Tripura as the latter defeated them by 53 runs (VJD method). Despite this, Mumbai have confirmed a place in the top two - which will see them qualify for knockouts but they will have to do some more work to reach into the quarterfinals.
Sanju Samson's Kerala have booked a place in knockouts too as they registered a six-wicket win over Puducherry in their Group A clash. Kerala and Mumbai are ranked first and second and have taken an unassailable lead from the rest teams. The table topper will be decided after their final group games.
Hooda and Samson both starred for their teams in the group games. Hooda scored 77 to help Rajasthan get to 277 in the first innings. In the second innings, Aniket Choudhary took four wickets, while Rahul Chahar scalped two wickets.
Kerala thumped Puducherry by 6 wickets as they chased down the meagre total of 117 in their Group A clash. Sijomon and Akhil Scaria took three wickets each, while Samson's quickfire 13-ball 35. Kerala chased down the target in 19.5 overs
