The spring in Dinesh Karthik’s steps spelt doom for Kerala’s bowlers. Style backed by substance saw the Tamil Nadu skipper’s strokeplay soar, no less than four times over the ropes and eight to them, in the Mushtaq Ali Trophy T20 tournament south zone match at the Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy stadium on Tuesday.
Karthik’s 38-ball 71 was nothing short of domineering, the boundary-clearing blows, sailing over long leg and mid-wicket. Another off a cover-drive synchronised hand-eye coordination, reflexes and foot-work. Following closest in his captain’s footsteps was Narayan Jagadeesan (35 n o, 3 x 4, 2 x 6) who flicked a six off the innings’ last ball to take Tamil Nadu to a towering 184 for four.
In the same destructive fashion, K. Vignesh took less than two overs to clean up the Kerala top trio in a fine opening spell from the D.V. Subba Rao end. From the other he was equally effective, accounting for Kerala’s top scorers Sachin Baby and Salman Nizar. Sachin’s 44-ball 51 seemed a shade sedate when southpaw Salman went on a six-hitting spree, slamming five, some of them huge in a late charge to a lost cause.
In another game, Akshath Reddy helped Hyderabad to a breezy start, combing with Tanmay Agarwal (31) in an opening stand of 65 and then put on 61 with Ambati Rayudu for the third. As always adventurous, Akshath smacked five fours and three sixes in a 40-ball 64.
He stretched his luck against medium pacer Achit Shigwan and was caught by mid-wicket Amogh Desai. Rayudu looked set for a big knock, cracking a brace each of boundaries and big ones but skied towards the sight screen off Shadab Jakati and was held by Lakshay Garg.
Sagun Kamat led from the front in his 40-ball 47. Goa looked like it would make a fight of the chase when he was in the middle. His on-drive off Mehdi Hasan however dropped short with long-on Md. Siraj. Keenan Vaz (33) exited soon after and the western side could only delay the inevitable thereon. Ravi Kiran’s with a bag of four for 23 was the pick of the Hyderabad bowlers.
At the Andhra Cricket Association Academy in Vizianagaram, Ricky Bhui’s unbeaten 46 (2 x 4, 3 x 6) shepherded Andhra to a stunning seven-wicket victory over Karnataka. After the home side chose to field, K.V. Sasikanth’s bag of three for 32 restricted the visitors to 156 for eight, Stuart Binny top scoring with an unbeaten 47.
The scores:
At Vizag: Tamil Nadu 184 for four in 20 overs (Washington Sundar 30, Dinesh Karthik 71, Baba Aparajith 34, N. Jagadeesan 35 not out) bt Kerala 149 for seven (Sachin Baby 51, K.B. Arun Karthik 31, Salman Nizar 38; K. Vignesh five for 25); Hyderabad: 181 for five in 20 overs (Tanmay Agarwal 31, Akshath Reddy 64, A.T. Rayudu 44 ) bt Goa 162 for nine (Sagun Kamat 47, Keenan Vaz 33; Ravi Kiran four for 23)
At Vizianagaram: Karnataka 156 for eight in 20 overs (Stuart Binny 47 not out, R. Vinay Kumar 25; K.V. Sasikanth three for 32) lost to Andhra 157 for three in 18.2 overs (Ashwin Hebbar 35, G.Hanuma Vihari 26, Ricky Bhui 46 not out, D.B. Ravi Teja 33)
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