The hope that Dinesh Karthik’s three sixes offered Tamil Nadu, flailing at 76 for four when he came, was extinguished when he pulled Harshal Patel’s bouncer into the hands of square-leg, even though its Vijay Hazare Trophy semifinal against Haryana at the Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium here on Wednesday formally ended over an hour later.
The skipper’s predecessors had fallen to rash shots, leaving a tall order to Karthik and Baba Indrajith. Baba Aparajith was strangled down leg-side, C. Hari Nishaanth’s drive was caught in the slips and N. Jagadeesan top-edged a sweep after leaving Vijay Shankar stranded.
Vijay Hazare Trophy: Haryana vs Tamil Nadu semifinal highlights
Indrajith, batting with a bandage plastered across his mouth after suffering a freak injury during the innings break, was the anchor but didn’t find a foil and eventually fell trying to up the ante. Shahrukh Khan flattered to deceive with three imperious fours while R. Sai Kishore impressed his teammates with hits down the ground, but there was an air of inevitability to their cheers.
Tamil Nadu’s Baba Indrajith in action. | Photo Credit: VIJAY SONEJI/THE HINDU
Haryana’s new-ball pacers hit the in-between lengths with skill, its spinners followed suit and Tamil Nadu’s struggle with the bat reared its head again.
Earlier, Haryana’s innings blossomed during a 132-run partnership for the second wicket between Yuvraj Singh (65, 79b, 7x4, 1x6) and Himanshu Rana (116 n.o., 118b, 11x4, 2x6) that was bookended by a stuttering start and a collapse.
With Varun Chakravarthy and Sai Kishore triggering a collapse by picking four wickets for 36 runs, Sumit Kumar (48, 30b, 3x3, 3x3) showed the way by hammering Varun for a six off the first ball he faced.
His knock comprised the majority of the 92 runs Haryana plundered in the last 10 overs.
But Sumit’s audacity was built on a platform laid with persistence. T. Natarajan’s angles and M. Siddharth’s accuracy meant Haryana laboured to 26 for one in nine overs.
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When Tamil Nadu decided to strangle Haryana by bowling spin from both ends, Yuvraj played the ball late while Rana picked the overpitched deliveries to reach his fifty off 58 balls.
Varun erred on the fuller side initially and later overcompensated by bowling short, and Yuvraj punished him for consecutive fours to reach his half-century off 68 balls.
Sai Kishore was the pick of the bowlers and snapped Rahul Tewatia’s stunning string of scores in the tournament. However, his team failed to end Haryana’s winning streak.
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