CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu ended the league phase of the
Vijay Hazare Trophy
with a clean slate as they cruised past Gujarat by 78 runs in Jaipur on Wednesday. Tamil Nadu topped the Group C table with 36 points while Gujarat were second with 32 to their name.
TN's ninth victory in-a-row was made possible thanks to the efforts with the willow by
Abhinav Mukund (79, 13x4) and M Vijay (94, 8x4, 2x6) before the bowlers - led by medium-pacer M Mohammed (3 for 20) - came to the party.
The Abhinav-Vijay pair kicked off the proceedings with a 130-run stand for the opening wicket.
Washington Sundar (42, 2x4) - who arrived after Abhinav's dismissal - added 82 runs with Vijay to take TN past the 200-run mark.
However, once Vijay departed in the 38th over - six short of what would have been his 9th List A hundred - TN's innings began to flounder. The Dinesh Karthik-led side could only manage to score 61 runs in the last 12 overs as Gujarat fought their way back into the contest.
Left-arm pacers - Roosh Kalaria (3 for 36) and Arzan Nagwaswalla (3 for 56) - shone with the ball and received good support from leggie
Piyush Chawla (2 for 47).
Abhinav, who has accrued 466 runs from 9 outings in the tournament, felt TN were 30-40 runs short. "With the kind of start we had, a total in excess of 300 would have been ideal. But once we (myself and Vijay) got out, Gujarat hit back," Abhinav told TOI.
Gujarat were rocked early as skipper
Parthiv Patel (6, 1x4) was dismissed by left-arm spinner R Sai Kishore (1-26) in the second over of their chase. TN bowlers put brakes on Gujarat's scoring-rate by picking wickets at regular intervals.
Gujarat's No.6
Axar Patel's (55, 3x4, 2x6) run-a-ball innings kept his side in the hunt but once he departed in the 39th over - the chase soon concluded as they were bowled out for 196. With the ball, TN medium-pacer M Mohammed (3 for 20) caused the maximum damage.
Brief scores: Tamil Nadu 274-9 in 50 overs (M Vijay 94, Abhinav 79; Roosh Kalaria 3-36, Arzan Nagwaswalla 3-56).
Gujarat 196 in 42.2 overs (Axar Patel 55, Mohammed 3-20).
Tamil Nadu won by 78 runs.