Tamil Nadu make quarters despite loss to Baroda

CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu lost their last Vijay Hazare Trophy group league match to Baroda by 41 runs on Tuesday in Thiruvananthapuram. Yet, they qualified for the quarterfinals due to a superior Net Run Rate.
Tamil Nadu (NRR 1.052) --- along with Karnataka (0.789), Bengal (-0.235) and Pondicherry (-1.360) --- finished on 12 points each but the Vijay Shankar-led side topped Elite Group B because of the big wins they had notched up earlier. Tamil Nadu will play their quarterfinal in Jaipur on December 21. On Tuesday though, in a low-scoring encounter on an extremely difficult pitch to bat on, Baroda were bowled out for 114 in 39 overs. But Tamil Nadu, in reply, fared far worse as they folded up for 73 in 20.2 overs.
Tamil Nadu’s slow-ball bowlers --- M Siddharth (2-25), Washington Sundar (2-15) and Sanjay Yadav (2-13) --- were spot on with their lengths. Barring No. 3 Krunal Pandya (38, 3x4), the rest of the batting line-up failed to apply themselves as Baroda finished with a modest total on board.
Tamil Nadu’s slide began when Krunal struck twice in his first over --- the sixth of the chase --- getting rid of N Jagadeesan (11) and B Indrajith (0). From being 24 for 3, Tamil Nadu slipped to 34 for 6 by the 12th over. A 21-run stand for the 7th wicket --- the highest of Tamil Nadu’s innings --- between M Shahrukh Khan (9) and Sanjay Yadav (19) revived the side’s hopes. However, once Shahrukh was trapped leg-before by left-arm spinner Bharghav Bhatt (3-27) in the 16th over --- Tamil Nadu’s fate in the match was more or less sealed.
After registering comprehensive wins in their first three league matches against Mumbai, Karnataka and Bengal respectively, Tamil Nadu hit a rough patch by going down to Pondicherry and Baroda. The reversals in the last two games notwithstanding, Tamil Nadu coach M Venkataramana didn’t want to be too harsh on his boys. “It wasn’t the easiest of wickets to score runs but we could have restricted Baroda to less than 100. I am sure we will come back stronger (from the losses),” he said.
Brief scores: Baroda 114 in 39 overs (Krunal Pandya 38; M Siddharth 2-25, Sandeep Warrier 2-20, Washington Sundar 2-15, Sanjay Yadav 2-13). Tamil Nadu 73 in 20.2 overs (Sanjay Yadav 19; Bhargav Bhatt 3-27). Baroda won by 41 runs