Tamil Nadu are well on course for a record fifth Vijay Hazare Trophy after the Southern side scored a convincing six-wicket win over Baroda in the first semi-final of the domestic ODI tournament at the Feroze Shah Kotla stadium, here on Thursday.
Tamil Nadu, who won the trophy four times earlier, last qualified for the title clash way back in 2009-2010 season.
Invited to ball, Tamil Nadu first shot out Baroda for a meagre 219 in 49.3 overs and then chased down the runs with consummate ease in 47.3 overs.
India discard wicket-keeper batsman Dinesh Karthik top-scored for Tamil Nadu with a patient 107-ball 77 while skipper remained unbeaten on 53 off 67 balls.
Earlier, left-arm orthodox bowler Ravisrinivasan Sai Kishore (4/59) registered his best list A figures as Baroda suffered a middle-order collapse after Kedar Devdhar (46) and Aditya Waghmode (45) stitched 92 runs for the opening stand.
Krunal Padya (30), Pinal Shah (360 and skipper Irfan Pathan (27) also got starts for Baroda before giving away their wickets.
Besides Sai Kishore, Washington Sundar (2/20), A Aswin Crist (2/22) and Rahil Shah (2/36) shared the spoils for Tamil Nadu.
Chasing the modest target, Tamil Nadu lost openers Kaushik Gandhi (19) and V Ganga Sridhar Raju (15) in quick succession before Karthik and Baba Aparajith (28) steadied the ship with a 60-run third wicket partnership that laid the foundation for the win.
Atit Sheth (3/36) and Soaeb Tai (1/45) were the wicket takers for Baroda.
Ganguly devises s/f strategy
'Captain Forever' Sourav Ganguly is helping a young Bengal team devise a strategy to tackle 'Captain Cool' Mahendra Singh Dhoni's Jharkhand in the semi-final of the Vijay Hazare Trophy here tomorrow.
Despite featuring the biggest draw of the tournament in a semifinal clash, the match will not be televised live as Model Sports Complex in Palam does not have broadcast facilities. After a commendable victory against Maharashtra in a high-scoring thriller, the CAB president is all set to wear the mentor's hat, something that the team always looks forward to as he will be meeting skipper Manoj Tiwary and coach Sairaj Bahutule to discuss ways to counter the Dhoni threat. "Sourav has already discussed a few plans on how to tackle the Dhoni threat with Manoj and Sairaj. No doubt Dhoni is a formidable player but it's not impossible to get him out. Dada will be meeting the team in the evening today," a Bengal team source said.