Vijay Hazare Trophy | Elite Group C - Tamil Nadu, Services register dominant wins yet again
TN held on to the top spot in the group and kept their streak going with an emphatic 187-run win over Tripura. While Railways and Rajasthan played out a fascinating, low-scoring tie, Services cruised to an easy victory against Jammy and Kashmir thanks to Gahlaut Rahul Singh’s unbeaten ton.
Sunday was a low scoring affair in the Elite Group C matches where Tamil Nadu were the only team to cross the 250 run mark. Tamil Nadu cruised to an easy and emphatic win over Tripura while Rajasthan fought hard to earn a tie against Railways. Elsewhere, Services crushed Jammu and Kashmir in a comprehensive manner to hop to third position on the table.
Tamil Nadu 315-8 (50) beats Tripura 128-10 by 187 runs
Tamil Nadu skipper Dinesh Karthik won the toss and chose to bat first. The TN openers proved the decision right and gave the team a promising start but couldn’t continue with it. But opener Abhinav Mukund (84) and number 3 batsman Baba Aparajith (87) steadied the innings with a 128-run stand before the team lost Mukund. TN eventually crossed the 300-run mark, helped on by blistering cameos from young all-rounder Washington Sundar (36) and skipper Karthik (40). Ajoy Sarkar was the pick of the Tripura bowlers with 3 wickets. Chasing a mammoth 316-run target, the Tripura batting lineup fell like a pack of cards. Pratyush Singh (24) and Milind Kumar (24) top-scored for Tripura while no other batsman could stand against the Tamil Nadu bowling attack. With the ball, T Natarajan was the destroyer in chief for TN with 3 wickets and was supported by Sai Kishore and Murugan Ashwin, who bagged 2 wickets each, to reduce Tripura to 128 and seal a comprehensive win for Tamil Nadu.
Rajasthan 206-10 (47.4) tied with Railways 206-8 (50)
Having chosen to bat first after winning the toss, Rajasthan got off to an awful start losing opener Pratham Singh, who went for just 3 runs. The innings was steadied by Arjit Gupta who scored a gritty 90. He stitched important partnerships with Chetan Bist (30) and Rajesh Bisnoi (37) to propel Rajasthan to a respectable score of 206. The Railways attack was spearheaded by two right arm pacers Himansu Sangwan and Ananta Saha, who scalped 4 and 3 wickets respectively to break the spine of Rajasthan’s batting. In return, Railways also had a shaky start while chasing a small target of 206. Their innings was held by Dinesh Mor who scored an unbeaten 92. He was ably supported by Vikrant Rajput (26) and Karn Sharma (31) but their efforts were in vain as Railways was only able to muster 206 in 50 overs. The Rajasthan attack was able to defend such a miserly total with the help of two right-arm pacers. Abhimanyu Lamba chipped in with 4 wickets with a miserly economy of only 1.5 and was supported by Rahul Chahar who bagged only one wicket but stopped the run flow with an economy of 3.5. This was the first tie of this rain hit season.
Services 190-3 (34.2) beats Jammu Kashmir 189-10 (48.3) by 7 wickets
Services called it right at the toss and chose to bowl first. J&K proved Services' decision to bowl right as they weren’t able to stitch partnerships in the middle. The only meaningful partnership was between Paras Sharma (49), who missed a well-deserved half-century, and Fazli Rashid (39) which took their team close to a respectful score of 189. Services ran havoc through J&K with the help of 4 wickets from Diwesh Pathania and 2 wickets each from Varun Choudhury, Raj Bahadur and Arjun Sharma. Services also had a scare at the top while chasing down a timid total of 190 but quickly regrouped. They then cruised to victory riding on a 132-run partnership between skipper Rajat Paliwal (49), who missed on a half-century, and Gahlaut Rahul Singh (124*). The Jammu bowlers, on the other hand, weren't able make a mark in the match. Ram Dayal and Umar Nazir were the only ones in the wicket column with one wicket each.
