Baba Aparajith leads the run scorers list in Vijay Hazare Trophy 2015

Off-spinner, all-rounder, Baba Aparajith of Tamil Nadu, leads the table of top run-getters on the completion of the league stage of the Vijay Hazare Trophy 2015.

Aparajith has scored 374 runs from 5 games (5 innings – once unbeaten) at an average of 93.50 with 137 runs as his best. He has scored with a strike rate of 86.57, he also has a century and 3 half-centuries to his credit.

Making his debut in List A games on 30th September 2012, representing India B, in the game against India A, played at Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Rajkot, the Tamil Nadu youngster had scored 20 runs off 16 deliveries with 3 fours.

Since then he has featured in 31 games (30 innings – remained unbeaten twice) and has accumulated 1,315 runs at an average of 46.96 at a strike rate of 84.13 and has 3 centuries and 10 half-centuries to his credit.

Rolling over his arms, Aparajith also has picked up 20 wickets in 25 innings at an average of 30.10, economy rate of 5.69, and a strike rate of 38.5 with 3/28 being his best bowling performance.

The match between Tamil Nadu and Rajasthan played on 18 December 2015, at Gymkhana Ground, Hyderabad saw Aparajith register his individual best score of 137 runs in List A games.

On winning the toss, Rajasthan, led by Pankaj Singh, put Tamil Nadu in to bat. Losing the first wicket in the form of Abhinav Mukund (9) with just 19 runs on the board in the fourth over, Aparajith joined the other opener-wicketkeeper, Dinesh Karthik and the duo went on to add 199 runs in 31.1 overs for the second wicket. This partnership was the best for any wicket in the match.

Karthik departed after scoring 108 runs (150m, 97b, 12 fours, 1 six) at the team score of 218/2 in 34.15 overs. He also went on to establish another useful partnership of 108 runs in 8.5 overs, scoring at the rate of 12.22 runs an over, along with Murali Vijay (74, 66m,44b, 6 fours, 3 sixes) for the fourth wicket.

Aparajith fell to a catch by Ashok Menaria off the bowling of Tanveer-ul-Haq on the first delivery of the 44th over at the team score of 331/4 but not before putting up his personal best List A score of 137 runs, with the help of 13 fours, facing 122 deliveries in an innings of a little of over three hours (181 minutes) at 112.29 strike rate.

Tamil Nadu ended their innings at 384/7 in their quota of 50 overs. For Rajasthan, the left-arm medium pacer, Tanveer-ul-Haq returned with the bowling analysis of 9-0-81-3.

Tamil Nadu’s left-arm spinner, Rasil Shah, produced one the best bowling performances, returning with an impressive bowling figure of 8.2-0-37-6, he was successful in restricting Rajasthan to a total of 132 runs in just 26.2 overs and helped TN win the match by a huge margin of 252 runs. Tamil Nadu skipper, Ravichandran Ashwin, had used as many as seven bowlers, including himself.

Topping the Group A points table at the end of the league stage with 20 points from 6 games (win 5, lost 1), Tamil Nadu have qualified for the knockout round. They will on Uttar Pradesh on 24th December 2015, at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore. Aparajith has the opportunity to score further and remain at the numero uno slot.