Vijay Hazare Trophy 2017: 1st Semi-final Review: Tamil Nadu ride to the finals on the back of Dinesh Karthik’s innings

Irfan Pathan, the skipper of the Baroda side, won the toss and elected to bat on a slow pitch. Baroda advanced to the semi-finals after registering a sounding victory against Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu advanced after a victory over Axar Patel’s Gujarat.

Kedar Devdhar and Aditya Waghmode opened the batting for the side led by Irfan. Meanwhile, Aswin Crist opened the bowling for Vijay Shankar’s side. The openers got off to a steady start scoring 18 runs at the end of the 6th over of the match with the Tamil Nadu bowlers not so effective.

The openers gained momentum in the 7th over with two boundaries off Devdhar’s bat and a boundary off his pad. Waghmode picked up from where his opening partner left with a boundary off Mohammed in the next over. Rahil Shah was introduced by Vijay Shankar in a desperate attempt to pick a wicket. The partnership grew at a steady rate with Baroda score reading 44 in the 10th over.

Vijay Shankar’s bowling changes made no change on the batsmen as they continue to toil with TN’s bowlers. Baroda reached to a 50 mid-way in the 12th over of the innings, with a top edge from the bat of Devdhar off the bowling of Washington Sundar. Devdhar and Waghmode accelerated in the next eight overs with five boundaries coming off them.

The slow left-arm orthodox broke the 92-run opening partnership which lasted for 21 overs. Krunal Pandya, the Man of the Match in their previous outing walked out to bat.

Pandya, picked up where he had left with a boundary in the next over off captain Vijay Shankar’s bowling. Pandya scored the first six of the match with a loft over the long on off the bowling of Sai Kishore.

Washington’s twin dismissal in the 27th over rocked Baroda’s innings when he dismissed the opener Waghmode and Deepak Hooda in the span of four deliveries.

Baroda went from the score of 122/1 to 124/3 after the double wicket from Washington. Yusuf Pathan walked into bat at desperate times for the men from Baroda. Pathan and Pandya pushed for singles and doubles to take the score 138/3 by the end of 32nd over of the innings.

Mohammed Shah was the destroyer this time, with two wickets in 2 deliveries to dismiss the set batsmen Krunal and Yusuf.

The skipper Irfan Pathan walked out alongside wicketkeeper Pinal Shah to the middle. The partnership slowly began to gain momentum with boundaries coming in thick and fast for the batsmen before Sai Kishore dismissed the skipper.

At the end of the 43rd over Baroda had made 182 runs for the loss of 6 wickets. Baroda was bowled out for a paltry score of 219 giving Tamil Nadu real hopes of going through to the finals.

Kaushik Gandhi and Ganga Sridhar Raju walked to open the batting for Tamil Nadu’s chase of 220 runs against the opening bowling of Irfan Pathan. Kaushik began to show the form that we have witnessed in the Ranji Trophy, with two boundaries off Irfan Pathan’s over. Tamil Nadu’s openers reached 30 runs by the end of 5th over.

Atit Sheth, broke the partnership with an ordinary delivery when Kaushik decided to cut the ball outside off stump edging to the keeper.

The dismissal was controversial as the ball clearly bounced off the ground into the hands of Pinal Shah. Baba Aparajith walked out to bat to join Ganga Sridhar who was batting at 11.

Sheth, made more inroads as he picked up the prized scalp of Ganga Sridhar who was batting at 15 with Tamil Nadu total reading 35/2. Aparajith scored a boundary off Irfan’s over with a beautiful pull over mid-wicket. Dinesh Karthik picked up the form from where he left with twin boundaries in the next over to propel the total past 50.

At the end of 20 overs, Tamil Nadu had scored 88 runs for the loss of two wickets. Soaeb Tai picked up the priced scalp of Baba Aparajith, who got dismissed for 28 runs. The captain Vijay Shankar walked out to bat joining the in-from Dinesh Karthik. Vijay Shankar’s single in the 25th over of the innings signalling the 100 for Tamil Nadu.

The partnership grew steadily and impressively as both the batsmen looked in fine form with a partnership of 88 runs. Karthik was dismissed by a straight delivery from Sheth, after scoring 77 crucial runs.

36 runs were required from the next 48 balls for a Tamil Nadu victory. Washington Sundar and Vijay Shankar’s partnership ensured that Tamil Nadu was through with a brilliant partnership of 36 runs.

Dinesh Karthik was adjusted as the Man of the match for the semi-finals.

Brief Scores:

Baroda 219 in 49.3 overs (Kedar Devdhar 46 runs, R Sai Kishore 4/59)

Tamil Nadu 220/4 in 47.3 overs (Dinesh Karthik 77 runs, Atit Seth 3/36)