CHENNAI: Half-centuries by Anirudha Srikkanth (50; 34b, 4x4, 3x6), M Vijay (60; 38b, 5x4, 3x6) and C Ganapathy’s 3 for 16 paved the way for Tamil Nadu to thrash Andhra by 84 runs in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy South Zone T20 tournament.
TN openers Anirudha and Vijay went hammer and tongs on the stingless Andhra attack. The duo played positively and laid the foundation for the lower order batsmen to exploit. The pair added 96 runs in 65 balls for the first wicket.
Later Andhra chasing a stiff target succumbed to pressure. Some mindless batting led to the initial collapse from which they could not recover. Ganapathy was the most successful bowler for the hosts.
Brief scores: Hyderabad 119 for 7 in 20 overs (Ahmed Quadri 50, Ashish Reddy 27 n,o., Prasanth Parameswaran 2-13) lost to Kerala 120 for 7 in 20 overs (VA Jagadeesh 49, Rohan Prem 24, Robert Fernandez 25, Anwar Khan 2-12). MoM: VA Jagadeesh. Points: Kerala-4; Hyderabad-0
Tamil Nadu 172 for 7 in 20 overs (S Anirudha 50, M Vijay 60, K Dinesh Karthik 42, SH Srinivas 4-27, SK Noushad 2-18) bt Andhra 88 for 9 in 20 overs (AG Praveen 19 n.o., Abhinav Mukund 2-16, C Ganapathy 3-16, Sunny Kumar Singh 2-7). MoM: M Vijay. Points: TN-4; Andhra-0. Karnataka 170 for 8 in 20 overs (G Sathish 38, Manish Pandey 49, Stuart Binny 49, Saurabh Bandekar 4-42, Robin D’Souza 2-30) bt Goa 130 for 9 in 20 overs (Sagun Kamat 32, Saurabh Bandekar 24, Stuart Binny 4-14, Raajoo Bhatkal 2-22). MoM: Stuart Binny. Points: Karnataka - 4, Goa-0.