Tamil Nadu 220 for 4 (Karthik 77, Shankar 53*, Sheth 3-36) beat Baroda 219 (Devdhar 46, Waghmode 45, Sai Kishore 4-59) by six wickets
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
File photo – Dinesh Karthik scored 77 off 107 to anchor Tamil Nadu’s chase in the first semi-final © BCCI
Fifties from Dinesh Karthik and Vijay Shankar took Tamil Nadu to the final of the Vijay Hazare Trophy, with a six-wicket victory against Baroda. The TN spinners had helped restrict Baroda to 219 before Shankar finished the chase with 15 balls remaining.
Baroda had put on a solid start after electing to bat, with Kedar Devdhar and Aditya Waghmode putting on 92 for the opening stand. Left-arm spinner R Sai Kishore broke that stand by getting Devdhar before Washington Sundar (2 for 20) and Rahil Shah (2 for 36) made double-strikes in the 27th and 33rd overs respectively to reduce Baroda to 138 for 5. Captain Irfan Pathan (27) and wicketkeeper Pinal Shah (36) put on 44 for the sixth wicket to steady the innings before Sai Kishore had Pathan caught. A 30-run stand for the seventh wicket took Baroda to 212 before they folded for 219. Sai Kishore finished with 4 for 59 to take his career tally to six wickets after only two List A games.
TN openers Kaushik Gandhi and Ganga Sridhar Raju were dismissed by medium-pacer Atit Sheth (3 for 36) off consecutive overs with only 35 on the board. The early wickets were negated by two consecutive fifty partnerships – 60 for the third wicket between B Aparajith (28) and Karthik, followed by 88 between Karthik and Shankar, who remained unbeaten on 53. Karthik, who was named Player of the Match, struck four fours during his 107-ball 77 before he came down the track but missed and was bowled off Sheth. By that point, TN needed 37 to win and they got them without further loss.
Bengal or Jharkhand, who play the second semi-final on March 17, will face TN in the final on March 19 in Delhi.
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Source: ESPN Crickinfo