Baroda and Tamil Nadu posted easy wins to enter the last four of the Vijay Hazare trophy on Sunday. Baroda’s seven-wicket win over Karnataka was masterminded by Krunal Pandya and Kedar Devdar.
Ganga Sridhar Raju’s stroke-filled 85 was enough to get Tamil Nadu over the line against Gujarat. The reigning Ranji Trophy champions were shot out for just 211 with Rujul Bhatt scoring a battling 83. Skipper Vijay Shankar, Rahil Shah and R Sai Kishore shared seven wickets between them.
In reply, Tamil Nadu looked comfortable but none of their batsmen barring Raju built on their starts. There were useful contributions from the in-form Baba Aparajith and M Mohammed, whose breezy cameo of 35 helped his team get over the line with 7.4 overs to spare.
Karnataka batsmen too, disappointed, getting only 233 on the board. In reply, Baroda built solid partnerships through Devdar and Aditya Waghmode, who set the tone with a 64-run stand for the first wicket. Devdar and Pandya’s 92-run stand ended Karnataka’s hopes as Baroda reached their target with 4.1 overs to spare.
Brief scores:
- Gujarat 211 (Rujul Bhatt 83 not out; Vijay Shankar 3/48) lost to Tamil Nadu 217/5 (Ganga Sridhar Raju 85; Rohit Dahiya 1/34) by five wickets
- Karnataka 233 in 48.5 overs (Pavan Deshpande 54; Krunal Pandya 3/32) lost to Baroda 234/3 in 45.5 overs (Kedar Devdhar 78, Krunal Pandya 70; Sreenath Aravind 2/42) by seven wickets