One-run win brings Tamil Nadu back in contention in T20

CHENNAI: The batting was not very convincing, but bowlers rose to the occasion again as Tamil Nadu posted their second win in the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 on Monday. Defending 125 against Gujarat in Surat, the spinners put in a collective performance to clinch a 1-run thriller.

Putting up a one-man show with the bat, Chirag G­andhi had almost won it for Gujarat before a run out in the last over fet­­ched Tamil Nadu four points. Gujarat looked down and out at 96 for nine in the 17th over, but Gandhi farmed strike for the rest of the innings until last man Hardik Patel was run out off the penultimate delivery without facing a ball. Gandhi’s 68 not out off 66 balls contained four fours and sixes apiece. In all, there were four run outs in the innings.

Entrusted the task of bowling the last over, medium-pacer Avishek Tanwar repaid the faith shown by R  Ashwin. Off-spinner Washington Sundar (2/10 from three overs), left-arm orthodox R Sai Kishore (1/19 from four) had slowed things down before that. Medium pacer M Mohammed (1/24 in four) too returned economical figures. Ashwin (1/33 from four) was expensive in comparison, but it didn’t hurt his team in the end.

This brings TN back in the race for the top two spots in Group B. Vidarbha and Gujarat have 12 points each followed by Rajasthan, Himachal and TN on ei­ght. But TN have played three matches, while Gujarat, Rajatshan and Himachal have played four each. It was a disappointing sh­ow by TN batsmen after Gujarat chose to field. Murali Vijay, C Hari Nishanth and Baba Indrajith were back wi­th the total reading 21/3 in the fifth over. NS Ch­a­t­u­rved (34 off 38), Washington (33 off 35) and N Jagadeesan (29 n.o off 23) gave the bowlers something to defend.

Brief scores
Group A: In Vijayawada: Andhra 146/7 in 20 ovs (Bharat 41) lost to Jammu and Kashmir 148/5 in 18.3 ovs (Pundir 51). Kerala 139/7 in 20 ovs lost to Delhi 140/3 in 18.3 ovs (Rana 52 n.o).
Group B: In Surat: Tamil Nadu 125/6 in 20 ovs (Nagwaswalla 3/11) bt Gujarat 124 in 19.5 ovs (Chirag 68 n.o).
Group D: In Cuttack: Karnataka 242/4 in 20 ovs (Kadam 78, Nair 71) bt Mizoram 105/6 in 20 ovs (Rajput 41; Gopal 4/8). Arunachal 75 in 19.4 ovs (Pradhan 3/10) lost to Odisha 76/2 in 13.1 ovs.
Group E: In New Delhi: Hyderabad 124/6 in 20 ovs (Rohit 47 n.o) lost to Maharashtra 125/3 in 18 ovs (Gaikwad 54, Shaikh 42 n.o). Uttar Pradesh 179/4 in 20 ovs (Garg 54) bt Puducherry 102/6 in 20 ovs (Saurabh 4/14).