Aparajith, Rishi Dhawan set up Tamil Nadu vs Himachal final in Vijay Hazare Trophy

Jackson’s 134 and Sakariya’s 5 for 62 went in vain for Saurashtra whereas Services were bowled out for 204 by Himachal Pradesh

Tamil Nadu 314 for 8 (Aparajith 122, Washington 70, Indrajith 50, Sakariya 5-62) beat Saurashtra 310 for 8 (Jackson 134, Vasavada 57, Jadeja 52, Vijay 4-72, Silambarasan 3-54) by two wickets

When Aparajith got out in the 43rd over, Tamil Nadu needed 67 from 44 balls with five wickets in hand and a set Washington in the middle. The incoming batter, Shahrukh Khan, then hit Jaydev Unadkat for a six and a four to reduce the equation to 32 required from four overs.

It started looking like Saurashtra had all but lost the game, but Sakariya removed both Shahrukh and Washington (70 off 61) in his successive overs to dent Tamil Nadu once again. At the start of the chase, he had dismissed N Jagadeesan and Vijay Shankar to reduce Tamil Nadu to 23 for 2 in the fourth over.

With the last ball of the 49th over, Sakariya sent back M Siddharth to complete his maiden five-wicket haul in List A cricket, leaving Tamil Nadu eight down.

With seven required from the final over, Chirag Jani conceded only four off the first four balls against R Sai Kishore and Ragupathy Silambarasan. But a wide and a single on the penultimate ball by Silambarasan tied the scores. Kishore then hit the last ball for four to seal the match.

Himachal Pradesh 281 for 6 (Dhawan 84, Chopra 78, Bahadur 2-52) beat Services 204 (Paliwal 55, Chauhan 45, Dhawan 4-27) by 77 runs

After scoring 84 off 77 balls to lift HP to 281 for 6, Dhawan picked up 4 for 27 to help bundle out Services for 204 in 46.1 overs.

Dhawan then joined hands with Chopra, who soon brought up his fifth successive half-century of the tournament. The two added 88 in 103 balls for the fifth wicket before Chopra fell to Abhishek Tiwari for a 109-ball 78.

Dhawan, though, wasn’t done yet. He caused further damage with the ball, removing Lakhan Singh and Mohit Ahlawat cheaply to leave Services on 36 for 2 in their chase of 282. Ravi Chauhan (45 off 70) and Rajat Paliwal (55 off 66) showed some resistance but neither could carry on to make a big score.

By the time Paliwal got out, in the 37th over, the asking rate had gone past nine an over. In search of quick runs, Services slipped from 174 for 5 to 179 for 8. The last two pairs took the side past 200 before Dhawan pegged back Bahadur’s middle stump to wrap up the game.