GUWAHATI, Dec 10 - Star studded Tamil Nadu humbled Assam by six wickets in the Group A Vijay Hazare Trophy match at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Hyderabad today.
Tamil Nadu opener Abhinav Mukund�s 104 off as many balls made the match one-sided as in reply to Assam�s 210, Tamil Nadu smacked up 214 for the loss of four wickets in 41.4 overs.
Led by Indian spin hero Ravichandran Ashwin, Assam were put into bat and managed to cross the 200 mark and were all out for 210 with two balls to spare of the 50-over encounter. Jamaluddin Syed Mohammad was the lone Assam batsman to hit form as he scored 59 off 93 deliveries. His knock was studded with two boundaries and three sixes.
Amit Verma (24), Pallav Das and Abu Nechim Ahmed (20 each) were the other batsmen to contribute a little. Ashwin was the leading wicket taker with three victims giving away 31 runs in 9.4 overs. Jagatheesan Kousik (2/33) and M Mohammed (2/40) were the other notable wicket takers for Tamil Nadu.
Chasing the moderate target, the Tamil Nadu batsmen made a flying start as opener Abhinav Mukund made merry of the Assam bowlers hitting all round the wicket. Mukund stitched up a 140-run second wicket partnership with Indian opener Murli Vijay (25), after one down batsman Vijay Shankar was retired hurt for 42. That partnership was enough for Tamil Nadu in reaching the target comprehensively.
Assam bowlers hardly could put any impact on the opponent batsmen as Krishna Das, skipper Gokul Sharma and Arup Das took one wicket each.
SCORECARD
Assam: Pallav Das c Ashwin b V Shankar 20, Rajdeep Das c R Shah b Sathish 10, Amit Verma c D Karthik b M Mohammed 24, Arun Karthik b M Mohammed 14, Gokul Sharma c D Karthik b J Kousik 8, Jamaluddin Syed Mohammad c J Kousik b Ashwin 59, Amit Sinha c Ashwin b J Kousik 2, Wasiqur Rahman lbw b Ashwin 15, Abu Nechim Ahmed st D Karthik b R Shah 20, Arup Das st D Karthik b Ashwin 10, Krishna Das not out 0. Extras: (b 0, lb 6, w 20, nb 2) 28; Total (10 wkts, 49.4 overs) 210; Fall of wickets: 1-3, 2-37, 3-75, 4-78, 5-95, 6-107, 7-161, 8-194, 9-208, 10-210. Bowling: Jagatheesan Kousik 8-1-33-2, Rajagopal Sathish 8-1-32-1, Vijay Shankar 6-0-19-1, Murali Vijay 2-0-11-0, M Mohammed 7-1-40-2, Ravichandran Ashwin 9.4-0-31-3, Rahil Shah 9-1-38-1.
Tamil Nadu: Abhinav Mukund c A Verma b Gokul Sharma 104, Srikkanth Anirudha c A Verma b Krishna Das 12, Vijay Shankar retd hurt 42, Murali Vijay run out 25, Dinesh Karthik b Arup Das 5, Baba Indrajith not out 17, Rajagopal Sathish not out 0. Extras: (b 0, lb 3, w 6, nb 0) 9. Total: (4 wkts, 41.4 overs) 214; Fall of wickets: 1/34, 2/174, 3/184, 4/209. Bowling: Krishna Das 7-1-21-1, Arup Das 8-0-37-1, Abu Nechim Ahmed 4-0-35-0, Jamaluddin Syed Mohammad 6-0-35-0, Gokul Sharma 5-0-24-1, Amit Verma 10-0-51-0, Amit Sinha 1.4-0-8-0.
