No stopping TN, superb fightback by Kerala

Tamil Nadu continued their red hot form with a third straight win while Ruturaj Gaikwad’s third ton on a trot went in vain as Kerala outplayed them in the Vijay Hazare Trophy on Saturday.

KOCHI: Tamil Nadu continued their red hot form with a third straight win while Ruturaj Gaikwad’s third ton on a trot went in vain as Kerala outplayed them in the Vijay Hazare Trophy on Saturday.After their emphatic wins against defending champions Mumbai and Karnataka, Tamil Nadu secured another comprehensive over Bengal, winning by a 146-run margin in their Elite Group B encounter at the Sports Hub stadium in Thiruvananthapuram. After being asked to bat first, Tamil Nadu managed 295/8 with their middle order standing firm. Tamil Nadu were in trouble with the score being 55/3 in the 18th over.

 Dinesh Karthik
 Dinesh Karthik

Dinesh Karthik (87), Baba Indrajith (64) and Jagatheesan Kousik (50) brought them back into the game while Shahrukh Khan continued his power-hitting with a 12-ball-32 run knock.Bengal capitulated in their chase and was bowled out for 149. Ragupathy Silambarasan was the pick of the bowlers with four wickets while Sandeep Warrier got two.

In another Group B fixture, Karnataka secured a seven-wicket win over Mumbai. Led by Praveen Dubey (4/29), the Karnataka bowlers restricted Mumbai to 208/9 in 50 overs. Their openers then gave Karnataka the perfect start with Ravikumar Samarth forging a 95-run partnership with Rohan Kadam (44). Samarth made an unbeaten 95 as Karnataka reached the target in the 46th over with seven wickets to spare.

At Rajkot, in an Elite Group D fixture, Ruturaj Gaikwad century went in  vain as Maharashtra lost to Kerala. Ruturaj’s 124 (off 129 balls) and Rahul Tripathi’s 99 helped Maharashtra post 291/8. Kerala lost quick wickets and were left reeling at 35/4 before Sanju (42) and Jalaj Saxena (44) brought them back into the contest. After the two departed, Vishnu Vinod (100 n.o) and Sijomon Joseph (71 n.o) dropped anchor and took the game away from Maharashtra.

Brief scores: Elite Group A: Vidarbha 148 in 42.4 ovs (A Raut 5/36, D Pradhan 3/13) lost to Odisha 152/4 in 42 ovs (S Senapati 71, A Sarangi 52); J&K 208 in 48.3 ovs (R Dayal 116; C Stephen 3/37) lost to Andhra 209/8 in 50 ovs (Ricky 56; A Nabi 3/25); Elite Group B: Tamil Nadu 295/8 in 50 ovs (D Karthik 87, B Indrajith 64; Akash Deep 3/64) beat Bengal 149 (R Silambarasan 4/28); Mumbai 208/9 in 50 ovs (Y Jaiswal 61; P Dubey 4/29) lost to Karnataka 211/3 in 45.3 ovs (R Samarth 96, R Kadam 44); Elite Group C: Delhi 243 in 49 ovs (L Yadav 57; S Mavi 4/48) lost to UP 244/1 in 43.5 ovs (A Juyal 120 n.o; M Kaushik 89 n.o); Hyderabad 221 in 49 ovs (R Teja 63; P Mankad 4/54) lost to Saurashtra 225/3 in 39 ovs (H Desai 101, Sheldon 65); Elite Group D: Maharashtra 291/8 in 50 ovs (R Gaikwad 124, A Bawne 99; MD Nidheesh 5/49) lost to Kerala 294/6 in 48.5 ovs (Vishnu 100 n.o, Sijomon 71 n.o).

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