TN ride on Karthik ton to win Deodhar Trophy

NEW DELHI: Tamil Nadu rode a scintillating century by Dinesh Karthik to beat India B by 42 runs in the final of the Deodhar Trophy in Visakhapatnam on Wednesday. Tamil Nadu had scored 303/9 but in reply, India B were bowled for just 261. Karthik scored 126 off 91 balls with the help of 14 boundaries and three sixes.

Winning the toss, Tamil Nadu didnt hesitate to bat but they lost three wickets for just 39 runs. Batting at No. 5, Karthik then stitched a 136-run partnership with N Jagadeesan. In the process, Jagadeesan also scored a 62-ball 55. Karthik kept going at the other end, building another partnership of 66 runs with Vijay Shankar before he was caught off Axar Patel in the 39th over.

Despite being left with more than 10 overs after Karthik’s dismissal, TN couldn’t gather much steam as they scored 303 in their quota of 50 overs. Medium pacer Dhawal Kulkarni was standout bowler for India B, taking 5/39.

The target proved more than enough as India B were all out for 261 in 46.1 overs. Shikhar Dhawan continued his good form in the tournament by scoring a 34-ball 45 but the rest of the top order didn’t get a big score despite good starts. The only promising partnership was that of 72 runs, between Harpreet Singh and Gurkeerat Singh for the fourth wicket but apart from that there was no stopping Tamil Nadu from winning the match. Rahil Shah was their top wicket-taker with figures of 3/40.