Asnodkar ton flattens Tamil Nadu; Mumbai win

Siddesh Lad starred in Mumbai's 41-run win over Gujarat while defending champions Tamil Nadu crashed to a six-wicket defeat to Goa in the Vijay Hazare Trophy Group 'C' League here on Tuesday.

Lad hit 11 fours and four sixes in his 125-ball 129 to power Mumbai to 317 for 8 in 50 overs. Gujarat didn't seem in the hunt despite captain Priyank Panchal's 89 and were bowled out for 276 in 47.4 overs to hand Mumbai a second straight win.

Tamil Nadu lost six wickets for 44 runs to collapse to 210 all out before Swapnil Asnodkar's 103 took Goa home after a mid-innings wobble.

The Mumbai-Gujarat match saw Lad come up with a dominant display and was involved in two big partnerships, one with opener Akhil Herwadkar (37) for 88 runs and then with captain Aditya Tare (51) for 127 runs. In reply, Gujarat appeared to be behind on the required run-rate despite Panchal's century partnership with Bhargav Merai (64), who had scored a ton against Tamil Nadu on Monday.

At the M A Chidambaram stadium, Tamil Nadu couldn't build on  an 89-run opening wicket partnership between India Test opener Murali Vijay (51, 69 balls, 6X4, 1X6) and M Kaushik Gandhi (43) in the face of disciplined bowling and sharp fielding by Goa to be bowled out in 48.5 overs. B Aparajith was the other major contributor with a patient knock of 52.

Asnodkar, who made waves with Rajasthan Royals in the inaugural IPL, led Goa's chase with a well-compiled ton (103). The visiting team scrambled home after a stutter towards the end. India Test spinner Ravichandran Ashwin kept things tight and took 2 for 30 as the Goa batsmen played him with caution.

In the other game of the day, Andhra Pradesh notched up a second win on the trot, beating Madhya Pradesh by six wickets with medium pacer P Girinath Reddy  (six-wicket haul) and G Hanuma Vihari (61 not out) being the stars.

Brief scores (Group C): Tamil Nadu: 210 all out in 48.5 overs (M Kaushik Gandhi 43, M Vijay 51, B Aparajith 52; Darshan Misal 3-42, Srinivas Fadte 3-51) lt to Goa: 211/6 in 46.2 overs (Swapnil Asnodkar 103. Sagun Kamat 38; R Ashwin 2-30). Goa: 4 points; Tamil Nadu: 0 point.

Mumbai: 317/8 in 50 overs (Akhil Herwadkar 37, Siddhesh Lad 129, Aditya Tare 51; Ishwar Chaudhary 3-46) bt Gujarat: 276 all out in 47.4 overs (Priyank Panchal 89. Bhargav Merai 64, Rohit Dahiya 33; Roystan Dias 4-64). Mumbai: 4; Gujarat: 0.

Madhya Pradesh: 184 all out in 44.2 overs (Rajat Patidar 34, Harpreet Singh Bhatia 31, Anshul Tripathi 39, Sohraab Dhaliwal 28; P Girinath Reddy 6-24) lt to Andhra: 190/4 in 38.5 overs (Ashwin Hebbar 42, G Hanuma Vihari 61, Ricky Bhui 32 n.o, D B Ravi Teja 33 n.o). Andhra 4; Madhya Pradesh 0.