Vijay Hazare Trophy 2017, Quarter-Finals round-up - Baroda and Tamil Nadu enter the semis

Vijay Hazare Trophy saw the first set of quarterfinals come to a conclusion today. Two matches were played today as Baroda played Karnataka and Tamil Nadu entertained Gujarat. Both the matches saw teams perform well as a whole with everyone contributing equally for the win. Tamil Nadu triumphed Gujarat in what seemed to be an easy win for the side from south of India.

Gujarat v Tamil Nadu:

The game started well for Gujarat as they won the toss on what was supposed to be a belter to bat on. But Tamil Nadu had other ideas. They bowled in the right areas and made sure no batsmen got starts. Gujarat kept losing wickets at regular intervals with only one of the batsman contributing big. Rujul Bhatt scored 83 for Gujarat as they were bowled out for 211 with two balls to spare. There were no other notable contributions. The TN bowlers bowled with a good economy rate as they did not allow the opposition to settle.

The TN skipper Vijay Shankar was the pick of the bowler as he snatched a three-for. While Sai Kishore Rahil Shah grabbed two wickets each. Tamil Nadu got off to a great start as their openers saw them past the fifty run mark. One of their openers Sridhar Raju top scored with 85 from 85 deliveries. Vijay Shankar and M Mohammad made sure Tamil Nadu secured their spot in the semifinals as they chased the total down in 42 overs.

Brief Score – Quarter Finals of the Vijay Hazare Trophy 2017

Quarter Final 1

Tamil Nadu vs Gujarat – Tamil Nadu won by 5 wickets

Gujarat – 211/10  49.4 overs (Bhatt 83, Gohel 39, Shankar 3/38, Shah 2/34)

Tamil Nadu – 217/5  42.2 overs   (Raju 85, Mohammad 35, Panchal 1/8)

Baroda vs Karnataka:

The other match of the day had Baroda and Karnataka featuring as two best friends Robin Uthappa and Irfan Pathan clashed against each other. Baroda won the toss and put Karnataka into bat. All of Karnataka batsmen got off to good starts but couldn’t capitalize on the same. Uthappa scored 24 as Mayank Agarwal and Ravikumar Samarth got into the forties. Pavan Deshpande was the highest scorer for Karnataka with a 54. Karnataka managed a mere 233 as they were bowled out with an over to spare.

Baroda bowlers were right on the money as Krunal Pandya grabbed three wickets with Irfan Pathan, Atit Sheth and Lokman Meriwala stole one wicket each. Baroda openers came out all guns blazing as they put up 64 for the first wicket. The partnership between Kedar Devdhar and Krunal Pandya killed the game as both of them scored the fifties. Pandya scored 70 while Devdhar scored 78. Deepak Hooda and Yusuf Pathan walked Baroda into the semifinals as they won the match within 46 overs. They won the match by seven wickets.

Karnataka bowlers were poor in their bowling performance as only Srinath Aravind managed to take two wickets of the three that fell. Baroda and Tamil Nadu will face each other on March 16^th at the Feroz Shah Kotla stadium in Delhi.

Brief Score – Quarter Finals of the Vijay Hazare Trophy 2017

Quarter Final 2

Baroda vs Karnataka – Baroda won by 7 wickets

Karnataka 233/10  48.5 overs (Deshpande 54, Pandya 3/32, Pathan 1/39)

Baroda 234/3  45.5 overs (Devdhar 78, Krunal Pandya 70, Aravind 2/42)