KOCHI: Tamil Nadu secured their second straight win in the Vijay Hazare Trophy with an eight-wicket win over Karnataka in their Elite Group B encounter at Sports Hub International Stadium in Thiruvananthapuram on Thursday.After beating Mumbai in their first game, Tamil Nadu dominated Karnataka after restricting them to 122 and then chasing it down in 28 overs with eight wickets to spare.
Maniraman Siddharth (4/23) and Sai Kishore (3/28) were the standout bowlers for Tamil Nadu as all Karnataka batsmen, except skipper Manish Pandey (40) and Rohan Kadam (37), failed to register double-digit scores. Tamil Nadu won at a canter as Baba Indrajith (51 n.o.) and Washington Sundar (31 n.o.) with a 68-run partnership after losing their openers.
They’ve also opened a four-point lead at the top of Group B ahead of Karnataka, Bengal, Mumbai and Puducherry who are all on four points. Puducherry secured their first win after beating Bengal by eight runs thanks to the VJD method in a rain-hit match. Batting first, Bengal posted 264/8 and Puducherry were 132/2 when rain stopped play.
Meanwhile, Venkatesh Iyer produced an all-round display to help Madhya Pradesh outplay Kerala and register a 40-run win. A stunning 84-ball-112 which included a 169-run partnership with Shubham Sharma (82) helped MP finish 329/9.
Kerala began the chase with a 68-run partnership between Rohan K and Mohammed Azharuddeen (34). Once Rohan got out, Sachin Baby’s (66) efforts were not enough. Hyderabad also made it two-in-two with 79-run win over Delhi. Tilak Varma (139) and Chandan Sahani (87) helped Tanmay Agarwal’s side post 325/6. The bowlers led by Tanay Thyagarajan (3/33) did the rest as they restricted Delhi to 246/9. Meanwhile, Andhra slumped to their second straight defeat after an eight-wicket defeat against Vidarbha. Odisha kept pace with Vidarbha with a thrilling three wicket win over Gujarat.
Brief scores
Elite Group A: Gujarat 224/9 in 50 ovs (K Patel 130; R Mohanty 2/32) lost to Odisha 225/7 (A Raut 60; S Desai 3/30); Andhra 287/8 in 50 ovs (CR Gnaneshwar 93, A Rayudu 53; A Sarwate 3/45) lost to Vidarbha 288/3 in 41.4 ovs (A Taide 164; Y Rathod 44); Elite Group B: Karnataka 122 in 36.3 ovs (M Pandey 40; M Siddharth 4/23) lost to Tamil Nadu 123/2 in 28 ovs (B Indrajith 51 n.o, W Sundar 31 n.o); Bengal 264/8 (S Ahmed 85; S Bhati 3/70) lost to Puducherry 132/2 (P Deshpande) by VJD method; Elite Group C: Hyderabad 325/6 in 50 ovs (T Varma 139, C Sahani 87; P Sangwan 2/49) bt Delhi 246/9 in 50 ovs (H Singh 47; T Thyagarajan 3/33); Elite Group D: Madhya Pradesh 329/9 in 50 ovs (V Iyer 112, S Sharma 82; V Vinod 3/59) bt Kerala 289 in 49.4 ovs (S Baby 66, Rohan K 66; P Datey 4/59).