TN crush Karnataka to sail into semis
Jaipur, Dec. 21: Tamil Nadu came up with a superb all-round performance to crush Karnataka by 151 runs to progress to the semifinals of the Vijay Hazare Trophy domestic 50-over tournament here on Tuesday.
Sent in to bat by Karnataka captain Manish Pandey, Tamil Nadu first amassed 354 for 8 in 50 overs and then dismissed the opposition for 203 inside 40 overs for a massive win with medium-pacer R. Silambarasan picking up four wickets to hasten the slide.
Opening batter N. Jagadeesan hammered 102 (101 balls, 9x4s, 1x6) and left-arm spinner R Sai Kishre, pushed up the order to go after the bowling, smacked 61 (71 balls, 4x4s, 3x6s) before the burly M Shahrukh Khan bludgeoned an unbeaten 39-ball 79 (7 fours, 6 sixes) to help Tamil Nadu pile up 350-plus score.
That the last four overs yielded 64 runs was an indication of the aggressive mood Shahrukh Khan was in as the Karnataka bowlers bore the brunt in the death overs.
Shahrukh Khan, who has often been underlining his hitting skills and starred in the TN’s Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy triumph with a last ball six in the final against the same opponent, toyed with the opposition bowling and took 23 runs off the 48th over bowled by Prasidh Krishna.
HIMACHAL STUN UP
Himachal Pradesh rode on a stroke-filed 99 by Prashant Chopra as they stunned Uttar Pradesh by five wickets to storm into the semi-finals.
First, despite a 76 by Rinku Singh, UP could only manage 207/9 as the Himachal bowlers, led by pacer Vinay Galetiya (3/19), ripped apart the opposition line-up.
Then, Chopra’s sublime knock, and a quick-fire 58 by Nikhil Gangta saw Himachal chase down the total with 27 balls to spare.
Put into bat, UP were reeling at 39/4 as Galetiya wreaked havoc on their top-order.
BRIEF SCORES UP 207/9 (Rinku Singh 76, Bhuvneshwar Kumar 46; Vinay Galetiya 3/19, Siddharth Sharma 2/27) lost to Himachal Pradesh 208/5 (Prashant Chopra 99, Nikhil Gangta 58; Shivam Mavi 3/34).
■ Tamil Nadu 354/8 (N. Jagadeesan 102, M. Shahrukh Khan 79 not out, R. Sai Kishore 61, Praveen Dubey 3/67) beat Karnataka 203 (S. Sharath 43 K V. Siddharth 29, R Silambarasan 4/36, Washington Sundar 3/43).