Chasing low totals can be tricky. Needing to overhaul a lowly total of 168 posted by Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu were expected to cruise. But their competent batting line-up crumbled against a sublime bowling performance from their rivals and Ravichandran Ashwin’s men stared at a likely defeat.
Much to the relief of the Tamil Nadu camp, all-rounder Rajagopal Satish played a brilliant unbeaten cameo of 34 under pressure to help his side post a narrow one-wicket victory in their thrilling Vijay Hazare Trophy quarterfinal encounter here at the Chinnaswamy Stadium here on Thursday.
Electing to bat, UP lost wickets in short bursts and were never really in control of their innings. A gutsy 60 from Rinku Singh was the only saving grace for the Ekalavya Dwivedi-led side, which looked like folding up for below 150 at one stage. Tamil Nadu bowling coach-cum-player Lakshmipathi Balaji was the pick of the bowlers with figures of three for 32 while Ashwin finished with two for 27 in his 10 overs.
In response, Tamil Nadu were rocked by some excellent bowling up front from Bhuvneshwar Kumar (3/25) and Praveen Kumar (1/30). Leg-spinner Piyush Chawla (3/45) too joined the party, exploiting slight turn offered by the surface to pick wickets at crucial junctures.
In a see-saw battle, Tamil Nadu got their chase back on track from a dangerous situation of 17 for four, thanks to a 64-run stand between Murali Vijay (33) and Baba Indrajith (48). But the former got beaten by low ball from left-arm spinner Saurabh Kumar to be caught plumb in front. Indrajith, after playing well, looked good to see his side through, but a needless attempt for a quick single spelt doom for the youngster when he was run out by a brilliant direct hit from Mohammad Javed from mid on.
Reduced to 127 for seven, Tamil Nadu were in definite trouble. Satish then counter-attacked and dealt in boundaries to take the total closer to the target. In the 41st over, with Tamil Nadu needing seven runs, Chawla struck twice in three balls to make things tighter for his opponents. But Tamil Nadu held their nerve to pull off a win. Satish’s daring knock, which included six fours, proved to be the difference between the two teams.
The win pushed Tamil Nadu into the last four, where they will face Gujarat, who edged Vidarbha by two wickets here at the Alur (3) ground on Thursday.
Uttar Pradesh’s batting was all over the place, with a majority of the batsmen falling for false shots.
At the half-way mark, they were reeling at 79 for six. Rinku and Chawla dug deep for UP and helped their side cross the 150-run mark.
Gujarat down Vidarbha
Vidarbha were bundled out for a paltry 195 in 48 overs, with openers Jitesh Sharma (51) and Faiz Fazal (52) slamming half-centuries. In response, Gujarat huffed and puffed to reach the total.
Brief scores: Vidarbha: 195 all out (Jitesh Sharma 51, Faiz Fazal 52, Ganesh Satish 47; Jasprit Bumrah 4-38, Rujul Bhat 2-45, Axar Patel 2-22) lt to Gujarat: 198/8 (Parthiv Patel 57, Chirag Gandhi 31, Axar Patel 36; Ravikumar Thakur 3-46, Akshay Karnewar 2-28, Akshay Wakhare 3-30).
score board
UTTAR PRADESH: Shubham Chaubey c Karthik b Balaji 6 (6b, 1x4), Praveen Kumar c & b Shankar 7 (15b, 1x4), Umang Sharma c Aparajith b Ashwin 12 (33b, 1x4), Ekalavya Dwivedi b Satish 0 (8b), Sarfaraz Khan (run out) Shankar 7 (9b, 1x4), Rinku Singh st Karthik b Ashwin 60 (97b, 5x4), Akshdeep Singh lbw Balaji 13 (38b, 1x4), Piyush Chawla c Karthik b Crist 29 (62b, 3x4), Bhuvneshwar Kumar (run out) 7 (11b), Saurabh Kumar c Mukund b Balaji 3 (6b), Mohd Javed (not out) 2 (5b). Extras (B-4, LB-8, W-10) 22. Total (all out, 48.2 overs) 168.
Fall of wickets: 1-6 (Chaubey), 2-29 (Praveen), 3-30 (Dwivedi), 4-38 (Sarfaraz), 5-41 (Sharma), 6-79 (Nath), 7-145 (Chawla), 8-162 (Akshdeep), 9-166 (Bhuvneshwar).
Bowling: Lakshmipathi Balaji 8.2-0-32-3 (w-3), Aswin Crist 8-0-23-1 (w-3), Rajagopal Satish 10-2-14-1, Vijay Shankar 6-1-23-1, Rahi Shah 4-0-17-0 (w-1), Ravichandran Ashwin 10-2-27-2, Baba Aparajith 2-0-20-0.
TAMIL NADU: Abhinav Mukund c Nath b Bhuvneshwar 2 (8b), Dinesh Karthik c Nath b Praveen 0 (3b), Baba Aparajith c Sarfaraz b Bhuvneshwar 9 (21b, 1x4), Murali Vijay lbw Saurabh 33 (49b, 2x4), Lakshmipathy Balaji lbw Bhuvneshwar 0 (2b), Baba Indrajith (run out) 48 (78b, 6x4), Vijay Shankar c Dwivedi b Chawla 22 (29b, 2x4), Rajagopal Satish (not out) 34 (38b, 6x4), Ravichandran Ashwin lbw Chawla 7 (19b, 1x4), Aswin Crist c Dwivedi b Chawla 4 (2b, 1x4), Rahil Shah (not out) 1 (2b). Extras (W-7, NB-2) 9. Total (for 9 wkts, 41.3 overs) 169.
Fall of wickets: 1-1 (Karthik), 2-5 (Mukund), 3-17 (Aparajith), 4-17 (Balaji), 5-81 (Vijay), 6-118 (Shankar), 7-127 (Indrajith), 8-162 (Ashwin), 9-166 (Crist).
Bowling: Praveen Kumar 7.3-1-30-1 (nb-1), Bhuvneshwar Kumar 9-2-25-3 (w-3), Mohammad Javed 5-0-22-0 (w-2), Saurabh Kumar 10-0-47-1 (w-1), Piyush Chawla 10-0-45-3 (nb-1).
semifinal line-up
Delhi vs Himachal (Chinnaswamy Stadium); Tamil Nadu vs Gujarat (Alur grounds).
Both matches on Saturday.
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