JOIN USVijay Hazare Trophy: Tamil Nadu thrash Karnataka by 8 wickets in southern derby
Left-arm spinners M Siddharth and R Sai Kishore came up with impressive performances as Tamil Nadu outplayed arch rivals Karnataka by eight wickets in an Elite Group B match of the Vijay Hazare Trophy on Thursday.
Skipper Manish Pandey's decision to bat first backfired as Siddharth (4/23) and Sai Kishore (3/28) spun a web around the Karnataka batters to bundle them out for 122 in 36.3 overs. Save Pandey (40) and Rohan Kadam (37), none of the other Karnataka batters could make a significant contribution.
Tamil Nadu then rode on B Indrajith's unbeaten half-century to overhaul the target in 28 overs.
The slide began in the opening over when Sandeep Warrier had Ravikumar Samarth caught behind by Dinesh Karthik for a duck in the second ball.
Only a 67-run partnership for the third wicket between Kadam (69 balls, 1 four) and Pandey (54 balls, 3 fours) helped them save their blushes as none of the other batters reached double figures. Kadam's innings was ended by MS Washington Sundar (1/27), who castled him.
Siddharth then struck a crucial blow for Tamil Nadu when he bowled out Pandey in the 26th over. It was a procession from thereon as Siddharth and Sai Kishore ran through the rest of the batting line-up.
In reply, TN openers B Sai Sudharsan (18) and captain N Jagadeesan (16) began by hitting a few boundaries before the latter was bowled by Vidhyadhar Patil (1/22). Sai Sudharsan and Indrajith (51, 74 balls, 6 fours) added 32 runs for the second wicket before the former was dismissed by J Suchith (1/24).
Indrajith and Washington Sundar (31 not out, 33 balls, 3 fours) made sure that there was no further trouble as they closed out the chase in the 28th over.
It was the second occasion in recent times that Tamil Nadu had managed to put it across Karnataka after having nailed a thrilling final of the Mushtaq Ali Trophy.
In other matches of the group that were affected by rain, Mumbai got past Baroda, while Pondicherry pulled off a surprise win over the fancied Bengal, both via the VJD method used in domestic matches.
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