Dhawan takes HP to title clash

● In second semifinal Baba Aparajith smashed 122 to help Tamil Nadu eke out a two-wicket win over Saurashtra here on Friday, and enter the final of the Vijay Hazare Trophy OneDay Championship.

Jaipur, Dec. 24: Rishi Dhawan led from the front with an all-round show as Himachal Pradesh beat Services by 77 runs in the semi-final at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium here on Friday, to set up the title clash against Tamil Nadu in the Vijay Hazare Trophy domestic One-Day championship. Batting at No 6, the Himachal Pradesh skipper top-scored with a 77-ball 84 to help his side recover from a mid-innings collapse and prop up a fighting 281 for six.

In reply, Services were bundled out for 204 in 46.1 overs with Dhawan being the wrecker-in-chief with figures of four for 27 from

8.1 overs.

Earlier, Dhawan hit nine boundaries and one six, and got perfect support from Akash Vasisht, who smacked four boundaries and two sixes in his quickfire 45 not out from 29 balls.

Put on, Himachal lost Shubham Arora in the second over of the day and thereafter Prashant Chopra (78 off 109 balls) and Digvijay Rangi (37 off

59 balls) were at their watchful best.

It meant Himachal were slow to start off the blocks, taking 22.2 overs to reach the 100-run mark.

TN BEAT SAURASHTRA BY 2 WICKETS IN SEMIS

Baba Aparajith smashed 122 to help Tamil Nadu eke out a two-wicket win over Saurashtra and enter the final. This was after Saurashtra rode on a blistering 134 by Sheldon Jackson to post an imposing 310 for eight.

But Saurashtra’s effort was overshadowed by Aparajith’s master-class coupled with half-centuries by his brother Indrajith (50) and Washington Sundar’s (70) late cameo as TN chased down the stiff target in the final ball.

TN needed seven runs off the final over and tailenders R. Sai Kishore (12 not out) and R. Silambarasan (2 not out) brought it down to 1 of the last ball off medium-pacer Chirag Jani. Sai Kishore finished off the chase in style with a boundary.

BRIEF SCORES

■ Saurashtra 310/8(Sheldon Jackson 134, Arpit Vasavada 57; Vijay Shankar 4/72) lost to Tamil Nadu 314/8 (B. Aparajith 122, Washington Sundar 70; Chetan Sakariya 5/62).

■ Himachal Pradesh: 281/6 (Rishi Dhawan 84, Prashant Chopra 78, Akash Vasisht 45 not out; Raj Bahadur 2/52) beat Services 204 (Rajat Paliwal 55, Ravi Chauhan

45; Rishi Dhawan 4/27, Akash Vasisht 2/28, Siddharth Saxena

2/34).