Vijay Hazare Trophy 2023: Haryana created history as they clinched their maiden Vijay Hazare title as they defeated Rajasthan by 30 runs in the final at the Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Rajkot on Saturday, December 16.
Rajasthan, on the other hand, finished as the runners-up for the second time after the 2006-07 edition of the championship.
Talking about the match, Haryana posted a challenging total of 287/8 in their 50 overs after opting to bat first.
Ankit Kumar was the top run-getter for them as he scored 88 runs in 91 balls with Ashok Menaria also scoring 70 runs in 96 balls.
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The batters kept contributing in the middle as they got starts but couldn't convert their respective innings into big ones.
They were off to a disappointing start as opener Yuvraj Singh depated for just one run followed by Himanshu Rana's dismissal for 10 runs in the ninth over.
Ankit and Ashok bailed the team out of trouble and added 124 runs for the third wicket before the former was dismissed by Aniket Choudhary in the 35th over.
Aniket was the pick of the bowlers for his team as he took four wickets for just 49 runs in his quota of 10 overs.
He was supported by Arafat Khan who picked up two wickets whereas the star leg-spinner Rahul Chahar ended up taking just one wicket.
Chasing the target, Rajasthan were off to a horrible start as they lost three wickets for just 12 runs in the sixth over with Ram Mohan Chouhan (1), Mahipal Lomror (2) and Deepak Hooda (0) departing cheaply.
The opening batter Abhijeet Tomar kept going from the other end as he put up a 68-run partnership for Karan Lamba for the fourth wicket.
Karan was the next casualty for Rajasthan as he was dismissed by Rahul Tewatia for 20 runs in the 19th over.
The wicketkeeper-batter Kunal Singh Rathore then came in the middle to join Abhijeet as the duo stitched a remarkable partnership of 121 runs for the fifth wicket.
Abhijeet went on to smash a brilliant century whereas Kunal also scored his half-century before the former was dismissed by Harshal Patel for 106 runs in the 38th over.
A few moments later the match witnessed the end of Kunal, who probably was the last hope for his side as he was dismissed by Harshal for 79 runs.
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Rahul Chahar remained unbeaten with the rest of the batters getting dismissed cheaply as Rajasthan were bowled out for 257 runs in 48 overs and ended up as runners-up.
Haryana put up a promising bowling performance with Sumit Kumar and Harshal picking up three wickets each whereas Anshul Kamboj and Tewatia ended up with two wickets each as well.