Saurashtra knocks Tamil Nadu out of Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy

CHENNAI: Saurashtra knocked Tamil Nadu out of Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy with a convincing 58-run victory in a Group B clash in Indore on Tuesday.

After making a confident start to its campaign with two wins in its first two matches, TN’s form went on a downhill, losing four matches on the trot to occupy a lowly sixth in the table with eight points from six matches.

Being put in to bat, Saurashtra batters went on a rampage scoring 235 for five with three of them scoring half-centuries. Opener and wicket-keeper Harvik Desai laid a strong foundation with a quickfire 55 (34b, 5x4, 4x6). Despite losing his partner Tarang Gohel for o in the second over, Desai strung together a useful partnership of 99 runs for the second wicket with Prerak Mankad who contributed 43 (26b, 9x4). Number four Ruchit Ahir scored 56 (30b, 3x4, 4x6) and he found a perfect foil in Sammar Gajjar who remained not out on 55 (27b, 3x4, 5x6) as the two put on 113 runs for the fourth wicket. Gajjar was awarded player of the match for his enterprising innings. Lanky left-arm seamer Gurjapneet Singh picked up three of the five wickets to fall and finished with figures of 4-0-53-3.

Setting off in pursuit of a daunting target, TN got off to an explosive start but thereafter kept losing wickets regularly to be placed at 40 for three in the fifth over. Boopathi Kumar struck a valiant 65 (44b, 5x4, 3x6) and he received good support from Mohamed Ali who made 28 (25b, 3x4). But after having lost a clutch of wickets upfront, it was always going to be an uphill task for TN and it had to eventually settle for 177 for nine. Saurashtra’s Chirag Jani was the pick of the bowlers, taking three for 38.

Brief scores: Saurashtra 235/5 in 20 overs (R Ahir 56, H Desai 55, S Gajjar 55*, P Mankad 43, G Singh 3/53) bt Tamil Nadu 177/9 in 20 overs (B Kumar 65, C Jani 3/38)