Vijay Hazare Trophy: Shock defeat for Tamil Nadu as Karnataka and Kerala win

KOCHI: Tamil Nadu lost by the narrowest of margins to Puducherry while Kerala and Karnataka ran out winners in the Vijay Hazare Trophy on Sunday.After three straight wins, Tamil Nadu slumped to their first defeat of the campaign when they lost to Puducherry by one run in their Elite Group B clash at the St. Xavier’s College ground in Thiruvananthapuram.

Washington Sundar picked up a fifer as Tamil Nadu restricted Puducherry to 225. Fabi Ahmed was the top scorer for Puducherry with an unbeaten 87.

After the match was truncated to 44 overs with Tamil Nadu needing 205, they fell short agonisingly by just one run. Manish Pandey and Karnataka capitalised on Tamil Nadu's defeat as they secured a six-wicket win over Baroda by the VJD method to go joint top in Group B. After being put to bat first, Baroda posted 176.

Karnataka were given a revised target of 147 from 42 overs which they achieved the target in the 39th over. In Elite Group D, Kerala jumped to the top of the group with a five-wicket win over Chhattisgarh.

After his heroics with the bat against Maharashtra, Sijomon Joseph impressed with the ball as he picked up five wickets, restricting Chhattisgarh to 189. Kerala chased down the target comfortably with the top order setting the tone for the victory.  Meanwhile, KS Bharat played a starring role for Andhra as they beat Himachal Pradesh by 30 runs in a high-scoring affair. 

As for Hyderabad, they slumped to their second straight defeat. They were bundled out for 149 by Uttar Pradesh before the Karan Sharma-led side coasted to victory with 24 overs remaining. At Chandigarh, despite a poor showing from Delhi’s top order, they secured a hard-fought win over Haryana. In Group A, Odisha was stunned by J&K who beat the table-toppers by 95 runs. 

Brief scores:

Elite Group A:

J&K 278/9 in 50 overs (H Nazir 79) bt Odisha 183 in 45 overs (A Mushtaq 5/38);

Andhra 322/4 in 50 overs (KS Bharat 161, A Hebbar 100) bt Himachal 292 in 46 overs (R Dhawan 79; G Reddy 4/52)

Elite Group B:

Baroda 176 in 48.3 overs (KC Cariappa 3/28) lost to Karnataka 150/4 in 38.4 overs (K Siddharth 46 n.o) by VJD method;

Puducherry 225/9 in 49 overs (F Ahmed 87 n.o; W Sundar 5/48) bt Tamil Nadu 204/9 in 44 overs (D Karthik 65, N Jagadeesan 64) by VJD method

Elite Group C:

Delhi 267/7 in 50 overs (Jonty S 100; Chahal 3/43) beat Haryana 257 in 50 overs (Shivam C 107; P Sangwan 5/52)

Hyderabad 149 in 42.5 overs (Y Dayal 5/31) lost to UP 151/3 in 26 overs (K Sharma 44 not out);

Elite Group D:

Chhattisgarh 189 in 46.2 overs (Harpreet 98; Sijomon 5/33) lost to Kerala 193/5 in 34.3 overs (Vinoop M 54; Ajay M 3/27).