The Rajasthan cricket team lost to Sikkim by six runs in its last group match of the Vijay Hazare Trophy 2024-25 at the Dr DY Patil Sports Academy in Navi Mumbai on Sunday.
With the result, Rajasthan finished third in the Group B points table with five wins and two losses from seven matches, behind Maharashtra and Railways. Services, Railways, Himachal Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Meghalaya made up seven teams in the group.
Each team will play once against all other teams in the same group in a single round-robin format during the league phase. The top-ranked teams from each of the five groups along with the best second-placed team directly qualified for the quarter-finals.
The other four second-placed teams meet in the preliminary quarter-finals with the winners filling the last two spots in the quarters.
On Sunday, after being put into bat, Sikkim scored 275/5 with the help of fifties from Parth Palawat (80) and Ashish Thapa (73), with the pair stitching a 152-run partnership for the second wicket.
While Rahul Chahar picked up 2/77 in his 10 overs for Rajasthan, captain Manav Suthar registered 1/42 and Kukna Ajay Singh recorded 1/43 in their respective quota of 10 overs.
In response, Rajasthan lost wickets at regular intervals, falling to 176/6 in the 38th over. Rajkumar Saini (49), Kartik Sharma (45) and Shubham Garhwal (30) all got starts but failed to extend their stay at the crease.
Then Manav Suthar and Kukna Ajay Singh, who bowled economical spells earlier, joined hands to forge an 87-run stand in just 67 balls for the seventh wicket.
Manav Suthar scored 57 (61b, 2x3, 3x6) and Kukna Ajay Singh was dismissed on the last ball for 56 (37b, 2x4, 4x6).
Rajasthan needed eight runs off the final over with two wickets in hand but a tight spell from Ankur Malik, who finished with 4/35 in eight overs, handed the win to Sikkim.
The Rajasthan cricket team will play Tamil Nadu in the Vijay Hazare Trophy 2024-25 pre-quarterfinals match on Thursday.
Rajasthan vs Sikkim, Vijay Hazare Trophy 2024-25, brief scores: SKM 275/5 in 50 overs (Parth Palawat 80, Rahul Chahar 2/77) beat RAJ 269/10 in 50 overs (Manav Suthar 57, Kukna Ajay Singh 56, Ankur Malik 4/35) by six runs.
