In an extremely enthralling affair at Vizag, Tamil Nadu defeated their arch rivals Karnataka by 7 wickets on the 2nd day of the South Indian derby to qualify for the semi-finals of the Ranji Trophy. Chasing 87 to win, Tamil Nadu were in a spot of bother after losing 3 quick wickets, but Dinesh Karthik ensured no further slip-ups as he brilliantly counter-attacked the Karnataka bowlers to take Tamil Nadu to the semis. He was well complimented by Baba Indrajith who played the role of second fiddle and kept the scoreboard ticking. While Karthik scored 41 off 31 deliveries, Indrajith was patient in his knock of 16.
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Earlier in the day, the Karnataka bowlers did an excellent job to restrict Tamil Nadu to 152 after the latter began the day with 111 runs on the board with the loss of 4 wickets. Sreenath Arvind picked up three wickets while captain R Vinay Kumar and Shreyas Gopal chipped in with two wickets each. As Karnataka came out to bat in the 2nd innings, KL Rahul began on a strong note as he counter-attacked the opposition bowlers well, but he kept losing partners at the other end and this led to Karnataka being bowled out with only 150 runs on the board, thus giving Tamil Nadu an extremely easy target to achieve. Krishnamoorthy Vignesh was the pick of the bowlers as he picked up 4 wickets while T Natarajan picked up 3 wickets.
Their semifinal match will begin on New Year’s day and they will play the winner of the match between Mumbai and Hyderabad.
The other matches
Hyderabad are putting up a strong fight against defending champions Mumbai at the Shaheed Veer Narayan Stadium in Raipur. At the end of the 2nd day, they trail Mumbai by 128 runs with 7 wickets in hand.
As Gujarat and minnows Odisha fights it out for a semi-final spot at the Sawai Mansingh stadium in Jaipur, it is the former who are on top and close to achieving a first-innings lead thanks to Jasprit Bumrah’s heroics with the ball. Odisha are currently at 184-8, trailing Gujarat by 79 runs.
Extra cover: Gujarat-Odisha quarterfinal stopped on Day 1 owing to poor pitch conditions
Meanwhile, Jharkhand are extremely close to achieving a first innings lead against Haryana at Vadodara. They ended the 2nd day with 228 runs on the board with the loss of 3 wickets, trailing their opponents by 30 runs. Ishank Jaggi and Virat Singh were the stars with the bat and are currently unbeaten at 77 and 81 respectively.
Brief Scores:
At Vizag: Tamil Nadu 87-3 and 152 beat Karnataka 88 and 150 by 7 wickets
At Jaipur: Gujarat 263 against Odisha 184/8
At Vadodara: Haryana 258 against Jharkhand 228/3
At Raipur: Mumbai 294 against Hyderabad 166/3
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