Indrajith’s ton steers TN to semis
Tamil Nadu’s experienced spinners Sai Kishore (3/51) and IPL specialist Varun Chakravarthy (3/37), who were instrumental in bowling out Mumbai for a meagre 227 in just 48.3 overs.
Baba Indrajith
MUMBAI: Seasoned Baba Indrajith helped himself to a fine hundred while another senior campaigner Vijay Shankar scored a half-century as Tamil Nadu cruised into the semi-finals of the Vijay Hazare Trophy with a seven wicket victory over Mumbai on Monday.
Tamil Nadu will meet Haryana in the first semi-final after the latter comfortably got past Bengal by four wickets in another last eight encounter.
It was Tamil Nadu’s experienced spinners Sai Kishore (3/51) and IPL specialist Varun Chakravarthy (3/37), who were instrumental in bowling out Mumbai for a meagre 227 in just 48.3 overs.
Prasad Pawar (59) and Shivam Dube (45) did try to push the scoring rate with an 82-run stand for the fifth wicket in just 12.4 overs but the TN slow bowlers scalped six wickets for 53 runs in quick time to spark a middle-order collapse. Former India skipper Ajinkya Rahane (1) failed once again.
From 174 for 4 in the 35th over, Mumbai suddenly lost track as another left-arm spinner M Siddharth and part-timer Baba Aparajith also took two wickets each.
In reply, Tamil Nadu were never under pressure, even when they were reduced 103 for 3 but Indrajith (103 not out off 98 balls) and Vijay (51 not out off 58 balls) added 126 runs in less than 20 overs to knock off the target. While Indrajith hit 11 fours, Vijay’s innings had eight fours and a six.
Brief scores: Mumbai 227 in 48.3 overs (Prasad Pawar 59, Shivam Dube 45, Varun Chakravarthy 3/37, Sai Kishore 3/51) lost to Tamil Nadu 229/3 in 43.2 overs (Baba Indrajith 103*, Vijay Shankar 51*, Baba Aparajith 45); TN won by 7 wickets.
