Tamil Nadu eye encore against Karnataka in Vijay Hazare knockouts

Express News Service

CHENNAI: After trumping Karnataka in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy final to defend the title, Tamil Nadu will be up against their arch-rivals in yet another knockout clash as the Southern Derby returns in the quarterfinal of Vijay Hazare Trophy at Jaipur on Tuesday.

It will not be the first time these teams play each other in the 50-over tournament. Tamil Nadu were all over Karnataka in the Elite Group B league game, dismissing them for 122 before chasing down the total comfortably. However, the Vijay Shankar-led side is coming on the back of successive defeats in their last two elite group B games. Karnataka, on the other hand, defeated Rajasthan in the pre-quarterfinal on Sunday going into the encounter.

Despite the two defeats against Puducherry and Baroda, Tamil Nadu vice-captain N Jagadeesan is confident of putting those results behind and moving forward.

“We are really happy that we qualified and also finished at the top of our group. We are taking all the positives and moving forward and looking (ahead) for the knockouts,” the 25-year-old told this daily.

Jagadeesan, who captained the senior team for the first time in Vijay’s absence, led Tamil Nadu to three victories, which helped them finish as group toppers based on net run rate. He said that the journey has been a bit up and down, adding, “We started off really well but lost the last two games. Still, I think the overall brand of cricket we played was really good, especially against the top teams.”

One of the stark differences for Tamil Nadu from other teams is that none of their batters feature in the top ten run-getters so far. Someone or the other had always stood up to be counted when Tamil Nadu were in trouble.

Veteran Dinesh Karthik, who returned to the side from injury, is the leading run scorer for the state, with Baba Indrajith to follow.

The experienced duo — along with some crucial performances from M Shahrukh Khan and J Kousik — has put their hands up and performed whenever the top-order failed.

Calling it a ‘good sign’, Jagadeesan said, “You know, every game you’ve got a match-winner and that is not something you can say each and every time you go into a tournament. That’s been happening this year, especially in white-ball cricket for the past three years.”

“The middle-order has been helping the team put up a score for us to defend, Karthik, with all his experience as well, especially the way Kousik has gone about his game is really good. He is someone who has made the full use of the opportunities given to him.”

The spin trio — M Siddharth, R Sai Kishore and Washington Sundar — have been the stars for Tamil Nadu with the ball. In the league game against Karnataka, they shared eight wickets between them. For Tamil Nadu to get better of their nemesis, the spinners will have to have a good game.

The last time Tamil Nadu faced Karnataka in a Vijay Hazare knockout game, they lost by 60 runs in the 2019 tournament final. They went past the hurdle in the T20 format. Can they do it again come Tuesday?