VISAKHAPATNAM: Tamil Nadu opened its campaign in the South Zone Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy T20 tournament 2017-'18, with an easy seven-wicket win over Andhra Pradesh at Dr Y S Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium here today.
The experienced Dinesh Karthik guided Tamil Nadu home with a quickfire 57 off just 28 balls (nine fours and two sixers) with 32 balls to spare after the bowlers had restricted the opposition to 119 for 7 in 20 overs.
Opting to bat first, Andhra was in trouble in the very first over, losing opener Ashwin Hebbar for a duck, castled by K Vignesh. Captain G Hanuma Vihari (5) fell to Athisayaraj Davidson soon after to leave the home side at 6 for 2.
Ricky Bhui (25) and D B Ravi Teja (19) rebuilt with a 44-run stand but once they were separated within the space of six runs, the other Andhra batsmen struggled to get going.
A 20-ball knock of 20 by Shoaib Mohammed Khan helped the team reach 119.
Chasing 120 for victory, Tamil Nadu saw experienced opener Abhinav Mukund become a run-out victim with 17 runs on the board.
Dinesh Karthik, who was part of the India ODI and T20 teams in the recent series against Sri Lanka, came in at No.3 and played shots from the word go.
Though he lost M S Washington Sundar (13) with the score at 49, Karthik continued his aggressive ways and fell in the 11th over for 57.
B Aparajith (28 not out), who led the side in the absence of Vijay Shankar due to fitness concerns, saw the team home in the 15th over.
Brief scores: Andhra Pradesh 117 for 7 in 20 overs (Ricky Bhui 25, K Vignesh 2 for 17) lost to Tamil Nadu 122 for 3 in 14.4 overs (Dinesh Karthik 57, B Aparajith 28 not out).
Points: TN: 4; Andhra: 0.
Hyderabad 168 for 5 in 20 overs (Ambati Rayudu 52 not out, Akshath Reddy 34, Jalaj Saxena 2 for 28) beat Kerala 158 for 7 in 20 overs (Sachin Baby 79, Ravi Kiran 3 for 28).
Points: Hyderabad: 4; Kerala: 0.
Karnataka 172 for 4 in 20 overs (Mayank Agarwal 55, Darshan Misal 3 for 27) beat Goa 123 for 8 in 20 overs (Sagun Kamat 28, Abhimanyu Mithun 2 for 13). Points: Karnataka: 4, Goa: 0.