Himachal Pradesh 299 for 4 (Arora 136*, Amit 74, Dhawan 42*, Aparajith 1-45, Washington 1-47) beat Tamil Nadu 314 (Karthik 116, Indrajith 80, Shahrukh 42, Jaswal 4-59, Dhawan 3-62) by 11 runs (VJD method)
After winning the toss, Dhawan cited moisture in the surface as a reason behind bowling first. On a gloomy morning, he expected the fresh pitch to help his seamers early on.
Vinay Galetiya proved his captain right when he breached Aparajith’s defence with the one that kept coming in with the angle. Shortly afterwards, Dhawan himself dealt a blow, having N Jagadeesan caught behind with his first ball of the day.
Tamil Nadu knew they needed to up the scoring rate and the first signs of that came from Karthik. In the 21st over, he stepped out against Galetiya and hit him over long-on. Two balls later, he slog-swept him over deep square leg for his second six before repeating the shot in the bowler’s next over for the same result.
It was yet another sweep – this time off left-arm spinner Akash Vasisht for four – that brought up Karthik’s half-century, off 67 balls. Himachal could have sent him back when he was on 53 but Arora put down the chance off Jaswal.
Indrajith, who was playing second fiddle until then, also opened out. With a flurry of boundaries, he reached his half-century off just 57 balls despite being on 27 off 44 balls at one stage.
At the other end, Karthik struck 6, 4, 6 off consecutive Jaswal deliveries and moved closer to his hundred. On 96, he offered Himachal another chance when ended up top-edging a lap sweep off left-arm spinner Mayank Dagar, but short third man grassed the opportunity.
Himachal started their chase in a positive manner, with Prashant Chopra and Arora adding 60 in just 8.5 overs. Seeing his seamers going for runs, Vijay Shankar turned to spin, and Kishore didn’t take long to strike, castling Chopra for 21. In the next over, Washington Sundar bowled Digvijay Rangi for nought to make it 61 for 2.
Arora, meanwhile, brought up his half-century, while Nikhil Gangta hit a couple of sixes to keep the scorecard ticking. However, their stand was cut short by Ashwin, who had Gangta holing out for a 23-ball 18.
Arora and Amit kept Himachal afloat and took the side to 150 in the 26th over. When the boundaries dried up, the duo ran hard between the wickets. As a result, without taking any real risks, they brought down the equation to 142 required from the last 20 overs with seven wickets in hand.
Amit reached his fifty off 57 balls; two overs later, Arora brought up his hundred off 95 balls. After reaching the landmark, Arora hit Aparajith for a straight hit to bring the target under 100.
Tamil Nadu had a chance to break the stand in the 38th over when both batters found themselves near the striker’s end after a mix-up. Vijay, though, failed to collect the ball, allowing Arora to trace back his steps. Arora was batting on 112 at that time.
Aparajith finally broke through with Amit’s wicket, trapping him lbw when the batter tried to swipe one fine, but Dhawan slogged the bowler over deep midwicket on the second ball he faced to ease off the pressure. Then with an array of cut shots, he found successive boundaries against both Ashwin and Kishore. An over later, the required rate had plunged to almost run a ball.
Arora gave Tamil Nadu another chance in the 47th over but the mid-off fielder put down the catch, and when play was stopped, Himachal were comfortably ahead of the VJD target.
Hemant Brar is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo
Source: ESPN Crickinfo