CHENNAI: On the eve of their first match in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy T20 tournament, Tamil Nadu coach D Vasu emphasised on the need to begin well to qualify for the knockouts without hiccups. That’s what his wards did at the Eden Gardens on Sunday as the Dinesh Karthik-led side beat Jharkhand by 66 runs in an Elite Group B encounter. Opener C Hari Nishaanth’s unbeaten 92 and Karthik’s quickfire 46 propelled the team to 189, a total they comfortably defended.
After being asked to bat first, TN got a good start with the right-left combination in N Jagadeesan and southpaw Nishaanth. While Jagadeesan hit two fours and a six in his 28-ball 27, Nishaanth was the aggressor in his 64-ball innings. A 72-run partnership for the first wicket was cut short by left-arm spinner Anukul Roy in the ninth over. All-rounder Vijay Shankar, No 3, perished for 4.
Coming in at No 4, Karthik stitched a 98-run partnership with Nishaanth in 46 balls. The skipper’s blitz consisted of three fours and four sixes. Nishaanth launched three sixes and hit eight fours. Karthik ran himself out in the final over but by the time he left, Tamil Nadu had run up a big total. Shahrukh Khan played his part by scoring a 4-ball 12. For Jharkhand, Rahul Shukla dismissed Shahrukh and KB Arun Karthick.
With a batting line-up comprising of big-hitters like Ishan Kishan and Saurabh Tiwary, Karthik’s pacers had to be on the money. And they were, with Sandeep Warrier and R Sonu Yadav, who made his debut on Sunday, sharing five wickets between them.
Warrier accounted for both openers Kumar Deobrat and skipper Kishan (8-ball 9) inside the first six overs. With Sonu dismissing No 3 Utkarsh Singh in the fifth over, Jharkhand were reeling at 47 for three. Leg-spinner M Ashwin bowled Tiwary for 9 and Jharkhand were more or less done at that stage. Left-arm spinner R Sai Kishore scalped one as Kishan’s men finished at 123 for seven.
Brief scores
Group A: Karnataka 150/5 in 20 overs (KL Shrijith 48 n.o; P Rasool 2/18) bt J&K 107 all out 18.4 overs (Samad 30; A Mithun 2/24, J Suchith 2/17, K Gowtham 2/13); Group B: Assam 159/5 (R Parag 51 n.o., R Ahmed 31 n.o., K Kak 3/42) beat Hyderabad 157/8 (H Agarwal 29, T Thyagarajan 21 n.o., P Das 3/30). Odisha 113 all out in 20 overs (R Dhupar 37, Ankit Yadav 32, Ishan Porel 3/26) lost to Bengal 114/1 in 12.2 overs (Vivek Singh 54 n.o). Tamil Nadu 189/5 (C Hari Nishanth 92 n.o, D Karthik 46) bt Jharkhand 123/7 (Anand Singh 28 n.o., S Yadav 3/31, S Warrier 2/22).