INDORE, March 20: New ball bowler T Kumaran's deadly spell of four for 15 off 8.3 overs enabled Tamil Nadu to register a convincing 42-run victory over hosts Madhya Pradesh in the Wills Trophy quarter-finals at the Maharani Usha Devi Cricket Ground here today.Chasing a victory target of 237 runs, the hosts could manage only 194 with middle order batsman Devendra Bundela slamming an unbeaten 64 off 77 balls which included six fours and a six.
Tamil Nadu were struggling at 41 for five at one stage after being put into bat first. However, good knocks by middle-order batsmen S Sharad (45 off 50 balls including five fours), S Sriram (48 off 45 balls with six fours) and D Vasu (42 off 32 balls, 4x4, 1x6) helped the visitors reach a respectable score of 236 for eight wickets in their stipulated 50 overs.
The Tamil Nadu batsmen played sensibly adding 91 invaluable runs in the last ten overs after being 145 for six at one stage. For the hosts, medium-pacer HS Sodhi claimed three for 40 and was well supported byJP Yadav (two for 27) and Abbas Ali (two for 38).
The MP batsmen started off well but found the going tough against T Kumaran and were tottering at 81 for seven after 21.4 overs before being allout for 194 off 44.3 overs. Robin Singh and former Test legspinner L Shivaramakrishnan bagged two wickets apiece and wrapped-up the MP tail.
SCOREBOARD
Tamil Nadu: S Ramesh c Sahu b Sodhi 20, R Paul lbw b Sodhi 6, WV Raman c&b J P Yadav 5, H Badani c Sahu b Sodhi 4, S Sarath b Abbas Ali 45, Robin Singh c Khurasia b Pandit 22, S Sriram c Abbas Ali b JP Yadav 48, D Vasu c JP Yadav b Abbas Ali 42, S Mahesh not out 16, T Kumaran not out 10;
Extras: (lb7, nb1, w10) 18;
Total: (for 8 wkts, 50 overs) 236.
Fall of wickets: 1-10, 2-39, 3-40, 4-41, 5-105, 6-145, 7-187, 8-219.
Bowling: H S Sodhi 10-2-40-3, D Bundela 3-0-21-0, JP Yadav 9-1-27-2, C Pandit 10-0-32-1, M Panchasara 8-0-39-0, M Majithia 5-0-32-0, A Ali 5-0-38-2.
Madhya Pradesh: J P Yadav c D Vasu b SMahesh 13, C P Sahu c Shivaramakrishnan b T Kumaran 15, Amay Khurasia b Kumaran 11, Abbas Ali b Kumaran 1, C Pandit c WV Raman b Robin Singh 16, R Ali c Vasu b Shivaramakrisnan 10, HS Sodhi c Paul b Robin Singh 6, D Bundela not out 64, N Patwardhan c&b Shivaramakrishnan 22, M Panchasara run out (S Sarath) 26, M Majithia c R Paul b Kumaran 2;
Extras: (lb4, nb1, w3) 8;
Total: (all out in 44.3 overs) 194
Fall of wickets: 1-29, 2-40, 3-41, 4-46, 5-67, 6-72, 7-81, 8-136, 9-178.
Bowling: T Kumaran 8.3-0-15-4, S Mahesh 7-0-55-1, R Singh 10-1-32-2, L Shivaramakrish 10-1-32-2, D Vasu 7-0-40-0, Sriram 2-0-16-0.
Result: TN win by 42 runs.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
