Thiruvananthapuram: Tamil Nadu beat Rajasthan by 39 runs on Saturday for its second straight win in Group ‘B’ of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy T20 cricket tournament here.
Tamil Nadu, sent in to bat by its opponent, made 169 for 5 in 20 overs and restricted Rajasthan to 116 for 8. Murali Vijay (35, 29 balls, 6 fours) and N Jagadeesan (48, 37 balls, 2 fours, 1 six) provided a solid start, adding 54 runs for the first wicket. After the fall of Vijay to Akash Singh, captain Dinesh Karthik (48, 30 balls, 5 fours, 2 sixes) got into the act and added 48 runs. Karthik, who played some attractive shots from the word go and hit two big sixes, fell trying to accelerate the scoring, giving Akash Singh his second wicket. Vijay Shankar (15, 11 balls, 1 six) and M Shahrukh Khan (16, 13 balls, 1 six) hit out towards the end to take Tamil Nadu to 169.
In reply, Rajasthan lost opener Manender Singh off the second ball, caught by M Mohammed of left-arm spinner R Sai Kishore for a duck. Kishore added the wickets of Ankit Lamba (5) and Aditya Garhwal (9) to put Rajasthan in early trouble. Kishore’s strikes helped Tamil Nadu reduce the opponent to 23 for 3 in the 5th over and Rajasthan never recovered. Skipper Mahipal Lomror (32, 36 balls, 1 four, 1 six) made the top-score but the others couldn’t handle the pressure and the team finished with 116 for 8 in its quota of overs.
Sai Kishore was the pick of the bowlers, taking 3 for 19 from 4 overs while T Natarajan, G Periyaswamy, M Ashwin and Vijay Shankar picked up a wicket each. Tamil Nadu and Vidarbha have two wins from two games and lead Group B with 8 points.
Brief scores: Tamil Nadu 169 for 5 in 20 overs (Dinesh Karthik 48, N Jagadeesan 48, Akash Singh 4/26) beat Rajasthan 116 for 8 in 20 overs (Mahipal Lomror 32, R Sai Kishore 3/19). TN: 4 points, Rajasthan: 0. Manipur 93 for 8 in 20 overs (Bashid Muhammed 24, M B Murasingh 1/5) lost to Tripura 97 for 5 in 15.1 overs (UU Bose 29, Rex Singh 3/26). Tripura: 4 points, Manipur: 0. UP 60 all out in 14.4 overs (Darshan Nalkande 5/18, S B Wagh 2/13) lost to Vidarbha 62 for 1 in 7.5 overs (A V Kolhar 29 not out, Faiz Fazal 25). Vidarbha: 4 points,