Published: Jan 11, 2016, 12:17 AM (IST)
Edited: Jan 11, 2016, 12:17 AM (IST)
Nagpur: Tamil Nadu failed to qualify for the knockout stage of the national T20 championship for Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, despite beating Hyderabad by four wickets in a Group A match at the Vidarbha Cricket Association (VCA) stadium in Nagpur. Opting to bowl after winning the toss, Tamil Nadu restricted Hyderabad to 140 for eight in the stipulated 20 overs. In reply, Tamil Nadu completed the chase with eight balls to spare at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium in Jamtha. Jaweed Ali top-scored for Hyderabad with 35 off 19 balls, hitting six boundaries.
For Tamil Nadu, Murugan Ashwin picked up three wickets for 18 runs in his quota for four overs. In batting, Dinesh Karthik was the highest scorer for Tamil Nadu with 43 off 31 balls. He hit two fours and two sixes. 20-year-old J Kousik also impressed with a three-wicket haul for Tamil Nadu and proved a great assistance to Murugan Ashwin. Rahil Shah also did very well conceding just 15 runs in his four overs while picking two wickets.
Apart from Karthik, Abhinav Mukund, Baba Aparajith and Antony Dhas also came in with handy scores to help Tamil Nadu chase down the lowly total set in front of them. They got to the target quite comfortably with 1.2 overs to spare. Akash Bhandari tried to throw a spanner in their works taking two wickets in his four overs while conceding just 20 runs but his effort fell short.
Brief scores:
Hyderabad 140 for 8 in 20 overs (Hanuma Vihari 26; Murugan Ashwin 3 for 18, J Kousik 3 for 20) lost to Tamil Nadu 141 for 6 in 18.4 overs (Dinesh Karthik 43, Abhinav Mukund 31; Akash Bhandari 2 for 20) by four wickets.
