Vijay Hazare Trophy: Haryana finish off Tamil Nadu hopes

CHENNAI: A blistering 151-run stand for the sixth wicket from 92 deliveries between Rahul Tewatia (91 n.o., 8x4, 5x6) and Himanshu Rana (89 n.o., 5x4, 3x6) helped Haryana score 310 for 5 and notch up a 77-run victory over Tamil Nadu in the Vijay Hazare Trophy at the IIT-Sanmar ground on Tuesday. While the loss ended Tamil Nadu’s slim chances of making it to the quarters, Haryana sealed their last-eight berth from Group C along with Jharkhand.
TN, in a must-win encounter, had the game in balance when they reduced Haryana to 159 for 5 by the 35th over in the first innings.But the tide shifted towards Haryana once Tewatia and Rana’s partnership began to take shape.
While right-hander Rana was orthodox in his shot-making, his partner — Tewatia — employed the reverse sweep to good effect. The 50-run stand arrived in 36 deliveries while the subsequent 50 came in 32 balls. Even as Haryana began to stamp their authority over the proceedings, TN bowlers looked clueless and the ordinary fielding only made matters worse.
TN coach Hrishikesh Kanitkar felt his side failed to do the simple things right. “The best idea (when the opposition attacks) is to bowl wicket-to-wicket and stick to the basics irrespective of how much a batsman is shuffling at the crease. But, we failed to do that and kept bowling at the batsmen instead of sticking to our game-plan. The same was the case when (Parvez) Rasool was hitting in the match against J&K. We just didn’t execute our plans and it cost us (the last) two games,” Kanitkar said after the match.
In pursuit of Haryana’s target of 311, the hosts ended on 233 for 9. Abhinav Mukund (47, 2x4, 1x6) and skipper Vijay Shankar (44, 4x4) tried to make a match of it with their 59-run fourth-wicket stand from 66 balls but once the former was run out in the 23rd over, the chase became tighter. Late fireworks from B Anirudh (33, 2x6), M Mohammed (36, 3x6) and C Varun (32, 1x4, 3x6) helped the side cross the 200-run mark, but they never threatened to change the outcome of the contest.
Kanitkar questioned the attitude of the players who took the field during the tournament. “Some of the teams in this competition don’t have the depth that we have. I won’t like to take names but there are teams which don’t have proper leagues in their states and don’t have a pool of players like we have. But despite that they did well. It all boils down to (players’) attitude, approach and how much we want to win for Tamil Nadu. I don’t think we lack in skills, but just possessing skills are not going to win you games,” he said.
The TN selectors too have voiced their disappointment at the team’s show. “Five wins out of 9 games with an experienced team such as ours is not acceptable. We definitely demand better performance from the side,” said a selector.
Brief scores: Haryana 310-5 in 50 overs (Himanshu Rana 89 n.o., Rahul Tewatia 91 n.o.). Tamil Nadu 233-9 in 50 overs (Abhinav Mukund 47, Vijay Shankar 44). Haryana won by 77 runs