Lad stars in Mumbai’s victory

CHENNAI: Siddesh Lad starred in Mumbai’s 41-run win over Gujarat on Tuesday while defending champions Tamil Nadu crashed to a six-wicket defeat to Goa in the Vijay Hazare Trophy Group C League here. Lad hit 11 fours and four sixers in his 125-ball 129 to power Mumbai to 317 for 8.

Gujarat didn’t seem in the hunt despite captain Priyank Panchal’s 89 and was bowled out for 276 in 47.4 overs to hand Mumbai a second straight win.

Tamil Nadu lost six wickets for 44 runs to collapse to 210 all out before Swapnil Asnodkar’s 103 took Goa home after a mid-innings wobble.

The Mumbai-Gujarat match saw Lad come up with a dominant display and was involved in two big partnerships, one with opener Akhil Herwadkar (37) for 88 runs and then with captain Aditya Tare (51) which yielded 127 runs.

In reply, Gujarat appeared to be behind on the required runrate despite Panchal’s century partnership with Bhargav Merai (64), who scored a ton against Tamil Nadu yesterday.

At Chidambaram Stadium, Tamil Nadu couldn’t build on a 89-run opening wicket partnership between India Test opener Murali Vijay (51, 69 balls, 6X4, 1X6) and M Kaushik Gandhi (43) in the face of disciplined bowling and sharp fielding by Goa to be bowled out in 48.5 overs.

B Aparajith was the other major contributor with a patient knock of 52.

Asnodkar, who made waves with Rajasthan Royals in the inaugural IPL, led Goa’s chase with a ton (103). The visiting team scrambled home after a stutter towards the end.

THE MUMBAIGUJARAT MATCH SAW LAD COME UP WITH A DOMINANT DISPLAY AND WAS INVOLVED IN TWO BIG PARTNERSHIPS