Jaipur:Shubham Arrow’s century and captain Rishi Thawan’s Himachal Pradesh beat Tamil Nadu by 11 runs in the final of the Vijay Hazaro Cup in Jaipur yesterday.
Batting first, Tamil Nadu were bowled out for 314 in 49.4 overs. Himachal Pradesh set a target of 315 for victory. However, the game was stopped due to insufficient light in the game.
Himachal Pradesh then needed just 16 off 15 balls to win. But the game was stopped due to bad weather and lack of light. Then, according to the V. Jayadevan method, the Himachal Pradesh team was declared the winner as they were 11 runs ahead of the Tamil Nadu team.
The game moved with excitement as to who could win but the light blocked the Tamil Nadu team’s attempt to play the game. Perhaps if there had been light, the game would have ended on the side of the Tamil Nadu team. But as the Himachal Pradesh batting was hot at the last minute, the last 10 overs run-rate was in their favor. The Tamil Nadu bowlers bowled in the middle of the innings and lost in the last 10 overs.
Batting first, Tamil Nadu lost wickets from the start. Baba Aparajith (2), Jagadeesan (9), Shai Kishore (18) and Murugan Aswin (7) lost wickets quickly. Tamil Nadu lost 4 wickets for 40 runs and stumbled.
Dinesh Karthik and Baba Indrajith paired up for the 5th wicket to lift the team out of the slump. The duo added 202 runs for the 5th wicket. If Dinesh Karthik had played like this in the Indian team no one would have taken his place, Dinesh Karthik revealed a fantastic game. Dinesh Karthik, who is known for his sixes and fours, completed his mammoth century.
Indrajith, who played alongside Karthik, was dismissed for 80. Next action batsman Shah Rukh Khan was unbeaten on 42 off 21 balls, including 3 sixes and 3 fours. Captain Vijay Shankar was out for 22 runs.
For Himachal Pradesh, Rishi Thawan took 3 wickets and Pankaj took 4 wickets.
Himachal Pradesh chased down 315 runs. Starters Shubham Arora and Prashant Chopra both added 60 runs for the first wicket. Chopra was bowled out for 21 by Shai Kishore.
In the next over, Digvijay Rangi was dismissed by Washington Sunder in a duckout. Nikhil, who came in for the 3rd wicket, struck 2 sixes in the innings before being bowled out for 18 by Aswin. Himachal Pradesh stumbled, losing 3 wickets for 93 runs
Next up was Amit Kumar, who along with Shubham Arora rescued the team from the slump. Amit Kumar hit a fifty off 57 balls and Aurora also advanced towards the century. The two formed a 148-run partnership for the 4th wicket.
Captain Rishi Thawan banged in and joined Aurora. Captain Tawan bowled the Himachal Pradesh bowlers sixes and fours as Himachal advanced towards the target. Himachal Pradesh needed 38 runs in 6 overs to win. Tawan approached the target with Aurora’s action. When Himachal Pradesh needed 16 runs off 15 balls to win, the match was halted due to lack of light.
Thawan was unbeaten on 42 and Shubham Arora on 136. The Himachal Pradesh team won the championship for the first time after being declared the winner in the VJD system.
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