TN beats Mumbai, enters semi-final

Rajkot:

S Badrinath played an anchor's role hitting a superb century to guide Tamil Nadu to a 174-run victory over Mumbai in the quarter final of Vijay Hazare Inter Zone knock out tournament and enter the semifinals.

Tamil Nadu who were invited to bat first, put on 302 runs for the loss of six wicket and then restricted Mumbai at 128 runs in just 35 overs.

For Mumbai, Sushant Marathe put some resistance by making 64 runs off 74 balls with seven hit to the fence, while eight of his teammates could not even reach the double digit. S Badrinath stood tall by making 105 runs off 91 balls with eight fours and six sixes and helped his side to post a healthy 302 runs.

He added 127 runs for the third wicket with Abhinav Mukund who contributed 80 with six fours and one six. Ajit Agarkar was the pick of the bowlers taking two wickets for 55 runs.

Chasing 303 runs to win, Mumbai had a poor start losing Ajinkya Rahane quickly and then lost wickets at regular intervals. Rohit Sharma, who replaced Sachin Tendulkar for the third and final ODI to be played at Ahmedabad, made only one.

While Abhishek Raut (12) and Iqbal Abdullah were the two other batsmen who reached double digit.

For Tamil Nadu, M Prabhu and L Balaji did well with the ball taking four and three wickets respectively conceding 34 runs and 27 respectively.

Brief Scores: Tamil Nadu 302 for 6 (S Badrinath 105, Abhinav Mukund 80, Ajit Agarkar 2 for 55) beat Mumbai 128 off 35 overs (Sushant Marathe 64, Iqbal Abdullah not out 18, M Prabhu 4 for 34, L Balaji 3 for 27).