The veteran Tamil Nadu cricketers, R Ashwin, and Murali Vijay stood up and delivered when it mattered the most as their state defeated Vidarbha in the Round 6 Group B clash of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2019 in Surat on Thursday.
Ashwin, who decided to bowl with the new ball after electing to field first, scalped two wickets for 16 runs while Abhishek Tanwar scalped three wickets, conceding 22 runs. While Rushabh Rathod scored a half-century, Tamil Nadu restricted Vidarbha to 141/9 from 20 overs at the Lalabhai Contractor Stadium.
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Tamil Nadu, though, was going through a rough phase during the chase as they were reduced to 52/5 after nine overs. However, Murali Vijay resurrected the Tamil Nadu innings scoring 74 off 47 balls and stitched a 68-run partnership with J Kousik, who scored an unbeaten 41 off 35 balls.
This was Vijay’s second consecutive half-century after scoring 77 against Himachal Pradesh on Wednesday. However, unlike the previous game, Vijay’s knock did not go in vain on Thursday as Tamil Nadu registered a three-wicket win.
Earlier, TN won the toss and inserted Vidarbha in to bat. Tanwar stood out for his discipline and never allowed the Vidarbha batsmen to free their arms. TN kept pegging Vidarbha back with regular strikes in the first phase of play and had them in trouble at 60 for 4 in the 11th over.
Talking about the same, TN pacer, Abhishek said, “Once we fielded first, we wanted to make full use of the conditions. The wicket was on the slower side and getting those breakthroughs early helped us control the proceedings.”
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The win though may still not be enough for Tamil Nadu to secure a place in the Super League stage from Group B. Vidarbha, Himachal and Gujarat are in contention to secure those two spots in the Super League from Group B.
Brief scores:
Tamil Nadu: 142/7 (Murali Vijay 74, J Kousik 41*; Shrikant Wagh 2/23) beat Vidarbha: 141/9 all out (Rushabh Rathod 51, Jitesh Sharma 26; Abhishek Tanwar 3/22, R Ashwin 2/16) by three wickets
