Vijay Hazare Trophy: Tamil Nadu wins three in a row with a 38-run victory in opposition to Baroda

Dinesh Karthik displayed his class but once more and Shahrukh Khan put his head down to assist Tamil Nadu register a hat-trick of wins, with a 38-run victory, within the Vijay Hazare Trophy Group E on Wednesday.

Karthik’s quickfire 68 (51b, 9×4, 2×6) and his 75-run partnership for the seventh wicket with Shahrukh (31, 29b, 2×4, 1×6) bailed Tamil Nadu out of hassle on the Sharad Pawar Cricket Academy floor.

TN’s in-form bowling quartet – led by T. Natarajan – then defended a complete of 160 on a bowler-friendly monitor but once more to bundle Baroda out for 124 to assist Tamil Nadu preserve a clear slate within the group.

Had it not been for Karthik’s and Shahrukh’s affiliation, Tamil Nadu would have discovered it troublesome to get its bowlers into motion. When Shahrukh joined Karthik within the sixteenth over, Tamil Nadu was staring down the barrel at 52 for six.

Lukman Meriwala, the left-arm swinger, had run by way of the Tamil Nadu high order. The seasoned Meriwala exploited the situations to perfection to but once more expose the frailties of TN batters in negotiating the motion and bounce.

In barely easing situations, regardless of the spinners additionally coming into the sport, Karthik and Shahrukh rotated the strike for some time earlier than Karthik focused Bhargav Bhatt’s left-arm spin. The thirty first over noticed him tonk 23 runs, with the sequence studying 0, 6, 6, 4, 3, 4.

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A sweep shot over the sq. leg fence meant Bhatt pulled the size again and Karthik was fast to dispatch the subsequent ball over the midwicket fence. The subsequent ball was fuller and Karthik cleared the mid-on for a one-bounced 4. The subsequent one was steered by way of the vacant slip area for 3 adopted by one other sweep for a 4.

Had Karthik not missed one from Ninad Rathwa – the opposite left-arm spinner with Baroda captain Krunal Pandya persevering with to be sidelined on account of a again spasm – within the subsequent over, Tamil Nadu would have inched nearer to 200.

Natarajan then rattled the Baroda high order, with the chasing aspect reeling at 42 for 4 on the lunch break. Soon after the break, when Natarajan ran in from long-off to take a wonderful catch to dismiss stand-in captain Vishnu Solanki, the writing was clear on the wall.

The spin duo of Varun Chakaravarthy and R. Sai Kishore folded up the tail very quickly.

Had it not been for Bhatt’s three large sixes, together with two off Sai Kishore off successive balls earlier than being dismissed, the victory margin would have been a lot greater for Tamil Nadu.