U-25 tourney: TN loses, but advances to pre-QFs

CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu progressed to the Men’s Under-25 tournament pre-quarterfinals despite its first defeat in the group stage – a seven-wicket loss at the hands of Madhya Pradesh in its seventh and final pool match in Jaipur on Thursday.

Invited to bat, Tamil Nadu posted 282 for eight, riding on a century from skipper Pradosh Ranjan Paul (100 off 108 balls, 9 fours, 2 sixes). In the chase, Madhya Pradesh cruised home with 15 balls to spare, courtesy of a match-winning 232-run partnership for the unbroken fourth wicket between Rishabh Chouhan (147 not out off 125 balls, 14 fours, 5 sixes) and captain Harsh Gawali (94 not out off 109 balls, 5 fours, 1 six).

Brief scores: Tamil Nadu 282/8 in 50 overs (S Aravind 43, RS Mokit Hariharan 30, Pradosh Ranjan Paul 100, U Mukilesh 39, S Rithik Easwaran 27, Priyanshu Shukla 3/74, Ishan Afridi 2/33) lost to Madhya Pradesh 283/3 in 47.3 overs (Harsh Gawali 94*, Vikrant Singh Bhadoriya 31, Rishabh Chouhan 147*). Points: Madhya Pradesh 4(24); Tamil Nadu 0(24)