Rajagopal Sathish's unbeaten 34 runs helped Tamil Nadu clinch an exciting one-wicket victory over Uttar Pradesh in an enthralling quarterfinal of the Vijay Hazare trophy here on Thursday.
Chasing 169 to win, Sathish stood tall amid the ruins with a 38-ball cameo that comprised six boundaries.
Sathish came into bat when the score was 118 for six, needing 71 runs for Tamil Nadu to reach the last four.
The man of the match did not get the needed support from Baba Indrajith (48), Ravichandran Ashwin (7) and Aswin Crist (4), who failed to get into the double figures, towards the end of the chase. TN play Gujarat in the semifinals on Saturday.
Tamil Nadu began their innings in a poor fashion losing Dinesh Karthik (0), Abhinav Mukund (2), Baba Aparajith (9) and l Balaji (0) for just 17 on the board.
India discard pacer Praveen Kumar tasted the first blood by removing Karthik and then Bhuvaneshwar Kumar sent back Mukund, Aparajith and Balaji in a jiffy.
Nevertheless, Vijay Shankar (22) and inform India opener Murali Vijay (33) stabilised the innings and brought Tamil Nadu close to sniffing distance of the victory target.
Both put on 64-run partnership for the fifth wicket before Vijay was trapped leg before by Saurabh Kumar.
later, Sathish stitched a vital 37 and 35 run stand for sixth and eighth wicket partnership with Indrajith and Ashwin, making the difference in the end.
India seamer Bhuvaneshwar Kumar and leggie Piyush Chawla scalped three wickets each for Uttar Pradesh, while Praveen Kumar and Saurabh Kumar bagged a wicket each, but could not restrict Tamil Nadu pull off a thrilling victory.
Opting to bat, Uttar Pradesh posted 168 all out in 48.2 overs with Rinku Singh being the top scorer with a 97-ball 60 runs.
Brief Scores
UP: 168 (Rinku Singh 60; lakshmipathy Balaji 3-32) lost to TN: 169/9 (Baba Indrajith 43, Rajagopal Sathish 34 not out; Bhuvneshwar Kumar 3-25) by one wicket.
Patel put Gujarat in semis Alur (Karnataka): Gujarat skipper Parthiv Patel struck a fine fifty, while Axar Patel chipped in with an unbeaten 36 after picking up two crucial scalps to edge out Vidarbha by two wickets and advance to the semi-finals.
Chasing 196 for a win at the KSCA Cricket (3) Ground, Gujarat rode on opener Parthiv's strokeful 57 to achieve the target in 48.1 overs.
Gujarat though did see wickets tumble as left-arm medium Ravikumar Thakur and off-spinner Akshay Wakhare bagged three wickets each, but Axar made sure that he stays firm with Harshal Patel (15 not out) to ensure victory.
Earlier electing to bat, Vidarbha started off well with fifties from opener Faiz Fazal (52) and Jitesh Sharma (51), but soon their innings ran into rough weather.
After the 96-run openig stand, one-down Ganesh Satish also contributed with a useful 47 but the rest of the batting folded like a pack of cards.
Jusprit Bumrah bagged four wickets, while off-spinner Rujul Bhatt and man of the match Axar chipped in with two wickets apiece.
Brief Scores
Vidarbha: 195 (Faiz Fazal 52, Jitesh Sharma 51; Jasprit Bumrah 4-38) lost to Gujarat: 198/8 (Parthiv Patel 57, Axar Patel 36 not out; Rujul Thakur 3-46) by two wickets.