Vijay Hazare Trophy: Baba Indrajith's Ton Powers Tamil Nadu To Semi-Final, Rajasthan Pacers Crush Kerala
Baba Indrajith helped himself to a fine hundred while another senior campaigner Vijay Shankar scored a half-century as Tamil Nadu cruised into the semi-finals of the Vijay Hazare Trophy
Seasoned Baba Indrajith helped himself to a fine hundred while another senior campaigner Vijay Shankar scored a half-century as Tamil Nadu cruised into the semi-finals of the Vijay Hazare Trophy with a seven wicket victory over Mumbai in Rajkot on Monday. Tamil Nadu will meet Haryana in the first semi-final after the latter comfortably got past Bengal by four wickets in another last eight encounter. The second semi-final will be played between formidable Karnataka and a spirited Rajasthan. Karnataka got past Vidarbha by seven wickets in an easy chase while Rajasthan was the only team to defend successfully as they hammered Kerala by 200 runs in another last eight clash.
Easy for TN
It was Tamil Nadu's experienced spinners R Sai Kishore (3/51) and IPL specialist Varun Chakravarthy (3/37), who were instrumental in bowling out Mumbai for a meagre 227 in just 48.3 overs.
Prasad Pawar (59) and Shivam Dube (45) did try to push the scoring rate with an 82-run stand for the fifth wicket in just 12.4 overs but the TN slow bowlers scalped six wickets for 53 runs in quick time to spark a middle-order collapse.
Former India skipper Ajinkya Rahane (1) failed once again.
From 174 for 4 in the 35th over, Mumbai suddenly lost track as another left-arm spinner M Siddharth and part-timer Baba Aparajith also took two wickets apiece.
In reply, Tamil Nadu were never under pressure, even when they were reduced 103 for 3 but Indrajith (103 not out off 98 balls) and Vijay (51 not out off 58 balls) added 126 runs in less than 20 overs to knock off the target.
While Indrajith hit 11 fours, Vijay's innings had eight fours and a six.
Chahal too hot to handle
Ignored from the national T20 squad, veteran Yuzvendra Chahal warmed up nicely for the ODI leg of the South Africa tour with a match-winning haul of 4/37 as Haryana entered the last four beating Bengal by four wickets.
Bengal managed 225 all out in 50 overs, largely due to Shahbaz Ahmed's stellar hundred that had four sixes and as many boundaries.
Such was Bengal's plight that next best score was 24 by keeper-opener Abhishek Porel. Had it not been for the 52 runs added between Shahbaz and Pradipta Pramanik (21) for seventh wicket and another 33 for the ninth wicket with Suman Das (7) Bengal would have struggled to go past the 200-run mark.
Chahal was literally unplayable and most of the Bengal batters failed to read his wrong 'uns.
In reply, Haryana were 14 for 2 within the first five overs but Ankit Kumar (102 off 102 balls) and Ashok Menaria (39) added 126 for the third wicket to put the chase back on track.
It was Gujarat Titans' Rahul Tewatia (21), who calmly got the team past target in just 45.1 overs.
Brief scores: Bengal: 225 all out in 50 overs (Shahbaz Ahmed 100; Yuzvendra Chahal 4/37, Rahul Tewatia 2/32) lost to Haryana: 226 for 6 in 45.1 overs (Ankit Kumar 102, Ashok Menaria 39, Mohammad Kaif 2/44, Pradipta Pramanik 2/29) by 4 wickets.
Lomror, Aniket do it for Rajasthan
Left-handed Mahipal Lomror's unbeaten 122 formed the cornerstone of Rajasthan's decent total of 267 for 8 in fifty overs but little did Kerala know that a gettable chase would turn into a complete nightmare.
Left-arm seamer Aniket Chaudhary, once upon a time, a regular travelling net bowler with the Indian team took four for 26 and his seam bowling partner Arafat Khan grabbed 3 for 20 as the duo sent shockwaves, terminating Kerala's innings for 67 in just 21 overs.
Karnataka too good for Vidarbha
Karnataka put up a thoroughly professional performance defeating Vidarbha by seven wickets with skipper Mayank Agarwal (51) and Ravikumar Samarth (72 not out) scoring fifties in the successful run-chase.
Medium pacer Vyshak Vijaykumar took four for 44 as Karnataka skittled Vidarbha out for 173 in 44.5 overs. In reply, the winners reached the target in 40.3 overs.
On a track where run-scoring wasn't easy, Agarwal and Samarth added 82 for the opening stand to kill the contest.
The former India opener's 51 had six fours and a six while Samarth dropped anchor to remain undefeated after 113 balls with seven hits to the fence. He also added 59 for the second wicket with Nikin Jose (31).
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Yuzvendra Chahal
Ajinkya Rahane