Tamil Nadu open with big win over Mumbai

Express News Service

KOCHI: Reigning champions Mumbai suffered a defeat at the hands of Tamil Nadu while Karnataka steamrolled Puducherry in the Vijay Hazare Trophy which got underway on Wednesday.In the heavyweight clash of the day, Tamil Nadu beat Mumbai by 54 runs in their Elite Group B clash at the St. Xavier’s Ground in Thiruvananthapuram with Shahrukh Khan and Washington Sundar playing stellar roles with the bat and ball, respectively. After being put to bat first, Tamil Nadu started well with a 43-run opening partnership before losing two quick wickets.

Thanks largely to the contributions of Baba Indrajith (45) and a whirlwind 35-ball-66 from Shahrukh lower down the order, Tamil Nadu finished 290 for eight. Mumbai didn’t have the best of starts as they lost quick wickets at the top. In the middle overs, they managed to pull things back a little as their skipper Shams Mulani waged a lone battle. However, Tamil Nadu came back strongly with Washington (3/60) and Manimaran Siddharth (3/43) successfully defending their total.Karnataka, on the other hand, enjoyed a straightforward win as they thrashed Puducherry by a mammoth 236 runs. Powered by Ravikumar Samarth’s 95, Karnataka posted 289 for six. The match was over inside the 18th over as Puducherry capitulated to the Karnataka bowling attack led by Jagadeesh Suchith (4/3) and Vasuki Koushik (3/19).

Meanwhile, Odisha scripted a stunning win over star-studded Andhra with a 63-run victory. Wasim Jaffer coached Odisha posted 278/5 before restricting Andhra to 215. In Mohali, Hyderabad beat Haryana in a low-scoring affair. After restricting the Harshal Patel led side to 162, Hyderabad won the contest in 41 overs with opener Tanmay Agarwal scoring an unbeaten 77. In another Elite Group C clash, Delhi managed to overcome Jharkhand despite their star opener Shikhar Dhawan falling for a duck. Delhi chased down Jharkhand’s score of 263 (for 8) with Himmat Singh (113 n.o) and Dhruv Shorey (64) starring with the bat in their five-wicket win.At Rajkot, Kerala notched up a comfortable six-wicket victory over Chandigarh. Having restricted Chandigarh to 184/8, Sanju Samson’s team won the game in 34 overs.

Brief scores: Elite Group A: Odisha 278/5 in 50 ovs (Senapati 116; Reddy 2/63) bt Andhra 215 in 46.3 ovs (Bhui 74; Behera 4/24); Elite Group B: Tamil Nadu 290/8 in 50 ovs (Shahrukh 66; Kulkarni 3/45) bt Mumbai 236 in 46.4 ovs (Mulani 75; Washington 3/60, Siddharth 3/43); Karnataka 289/6 in 50 ovs (Samarth 95, Pandey 64; Bhati 2/62) bt Puducherry 53 in 17.3 ovs (Suchith 4/3, Koushik 3/19); Elite Group C: Haryana 162 in 39.2 ovs (Sharma 68; Teja 3/23) lost to Hyderabad 167/5 in 41 ovs (Tanmay 77 n.o; Chahal 3/42); Jharkhand 263/8 in 50 ovs (Virat 79, Kaushal 69; Sangwan 3/46) lost to Delhi 264/4 in 47 ovs (Himmat 113, Shorey 64); Elite Group D: Chandigarh 184/8 in 50 ovs (M Vohra 56; Sijomon 3/44) lost to Kerala 185/4 in 34 ovs (Sachin Baby 59).

RUTURAJ FIREWORKS

Ruturaj Gaikwad caught eyebrows with a stunning century to help Maharashtra chase down Madhya Pradesh’s score of 329. He played a captain’s knock with a stroke-filled 112-ball 136 as they chased down MP’s imposing total with two balls to spare.