Vijay Hazare Trophy: Tamil Nadu qualify for knockouts after a record win against Rajasthan

Tamil Nadu thrashed Rajasthan by a huge margin of 252 runs in the final round match in Group A of Vijay Hazare Trophy at Hyderabad. With this win, Tamil Nadu qualified for the knockout round of Vijay Hazare Trophy along with Punjab from Group A.

In a must win game for the both sides, Rajasthan invited Tamil Nadu to bat first. Tamil Nadu needed to make sure they maintain appropriate net run rate if they lose the game while Rajasthan needed more than a win. Nathu Singh provided early break for his side as Abhinav Mukund edged one to slips in the 4th over.

No.3 batsman Baba Aparajith kept the runs coming with some brilliant strokes in the powerplay. On the other end, Dinesh Karthik slowly picked up his scoring pace after playing a lot of dots early on. Aparajith brought up his fifty in just 42 balls with his regular striking while Karthik took 52 balls to get to his 50-run mark.

Dinesh Karthik turned dangerous after completing his fifty as he struck hat-trick fours of Nathu Singh’s bowling. He completed his century in 86 balls going from 50 to 100 in just 34 balls. Karthik’s splendid knock of 108 came to an end when he was sent back by Aparajith while trying for 2nd run and fell short of his crease. The wicket brought an end to 199-run stand for the 2nd wicket which came in 187 balls.

Sathish’s promotion to No.4 didn’t work as he struck a four on the 2nd ball he faced but got his middle stump uprooted on the following delivery by Pankaj Singh. However, Aparajith stood stable despite two quick wickets as he brought up his 3rd List A century and his first List A ton for his state team Tamil Nadu in 103 balls.

Murali Vijay, who had recently said that he is ready to bat at any position in limited overs matches came out to make a strong statement ahead of Indian team selection for the Australian tour. After surviving an LBW appeal on the first ball, Vijay attacked Rajasthan’s pacemen including Pankaj Singh. He struck a couple of sixes; one over deep midwicket and another one over long-off. He raised to 39 runs in just 19 balls and went on to complete his fifty in just 28 balls.

Aparajith smashed few boundaries along with Vijay. His brilliant knock of 137 off 122 balls finally came to an end as he tried to hit his 14th boundary but holed out in the deep. His dismissal brought an end to the 108-run partnership for the 4th wicket, which came in just 55 balls. Vijay Shankar didn’t last long as he fell for 7 trying for quick runs.

Vijay punched one over deep midwicket against the spinner but holed out at cow corner trying to hit his 4th six. Murali Vijay’s cameo innings of 74 came in just 44 balls with 6 fours and 3 sixes. Later, Ashwin struck 2 sixes and a four in his 7 ball stay, scoring 18 runs to help his side to post a mammoth 384/7.

During his batting, Murali Vijay was hit around his knee on pads. He took his time to recover and bat again. Later he didn’t come onto the field during Rajasthan’s innings.

Chasing 385 to win, Rajasthan batsmen threw away their wickets trying to go along with the required rate. Manendar Singh with 28 and Salman Khan with a quick 27 managed to score double digits in top 5. With Rahil Shah picking a 5-wicket haul, Rajasthan collapsed to 106 for 9. Rajat Bhatia and Pankaj Singh delayed Tamil Nadu’s victory for some time. Bhatia top scored with an unbeaten 29 while Pankaj struck 2 sixes in his 22-run knock, which includes a six off Ashwin’s lone over. Rajasthan finally bowled out for 132 as Rahil Shah cleaned up Pankaj to pick up his 6th wicket.

Brief scores:

Tamil Nadu: 384/7 in 50 overs (B Aparajith 137, KD Karthik 108, M Vijay 74; Tanveer-Ul-Haq 3/81)

Team Rajasthan: 132 all out in 26.2 overs (R Bhatia 29*, Manender Singh 28; Rahil Shah 6/37, A Aswin Crist 2/31)

Stat Attack:

Tamil Nadu’s win of 252 runs is the highest winning margin of win in India’s List A history. Previous highest was 213-run win by Bengal against Tripura in 1999.

Tamil Nadu’s 384/7 is their highest List A total. Their previous highest was 379/6 vs Bengal at Ahmedabad in 2010.

Tamil Nadu’s total was also the highest List A total at Gymkhana, Secunderabad. Previous highest total at the venue was also in Tamil Nadu’s name as they scored 334/6 vs Hyderabad in 2014.

Tamil Nadu’s total is also the 5th highest total scored in the Inter-State One-Day tournaments in India.