Patidar’s power- packed ton helps MP beat TN

Chennai, Feb. 9: Gautam did the star turn for Rajasthan after its rival had posted 268/ 8 riding on Siddhesh Lad’s second century in the tournament. The Rajasthan’s opener knock was embellished with 16 boundaries and four sixes.

For Mumbai, Lad, who stroked an exact 100 ( 8x4, 4x6) and Prithvi Shaw 52 ( 7x4), were the main scorers. Rajasthan’s Syed Khaleel Ahmed bottled things up bagging four wickets for 35 runs in the match played at TI Murugappa cricket ground.

In another match, a blistering 158 off 111 balls by Rajat Patidar powered Madhya Pradesh to a comprehensive eight- wicket win over defending champion Tamil Nadu. The home side’s third straight loss effectively ended their hopes in the tournament.

Faced with a rather daunting target of 303, Madhya Pradesh went on the attack from the start as openers Patidar and Naman Ojha unleashed an array of shots.

Patidar and Ojha added 65 runs before the latter fell to Aswin Crist for 39 ( 5X4, 1X6). This brought together Patidar and Rameez Khan, who took the game away from the host with a massive 209run partnership in 243 balls.

Patidar was in control right through his knock and hit 20 fours and four sixes as he peppered the Pachaiyappa’s College ground with shots all round the wicket. India Test star Ravichandran Ashwin, who has bowled with control throughout the tournament and tried his hand at leg- spin too, could not do anything to break the partnership or stem the flow of runs.

He finished with figures of none for 64 in 10 overs. Tamil Nadu captain Vijay Shankar tried seven bowlers but the MP batsmen played confidently to coast to victory with four overs remaining.

Earlier, Tamil Nadu recovered after losing Ganga Sridhar Raju ( 0) in the third over and Kaushik Gandhi ( 7) in the seventh over with wicketkeeperbatsman N Jagadeesan ( 99) stringing together a 107- run stand in 120 balls with B. Aparajith ( 43).