Jaipur: Abhinav Mukund (84) and Baba Aparajith (87) shone as Tamil Nadu thrashed Tripura by 187 runs for its sixth straight win in Group ‘C’ of the Vijay Hazare Trophy cricket tournament here on Sunday.
After posting an imposing 315 for 8 in 50 overs riding on impressive knocks by Mukund and Aparajith, Tamil Nadu shot out Tripura for 128 in 34.3 overs with left-arm pacer T Natarajan taking three wickets to pocket four points.
Spinners R Sai Kishore and M Ashwin pick up 2 scalps each as Tamil Nadu made short work of Tripura to take its tally to 24 points.
Chasing 316 for victory, Tripura never seemed to be in the hunt as it kept losing wickets at regular intervals and slid for 105 for 4 to 128 all out in the 35th over. After a steady opening stand of 34, Vijay Shankar provided the first breakthrough for TN as Udiyan Bose wascaught by M Vijay for 20 with the score on 27.
There was no meaningful partnership as Natarajan and the other bowlers kept the Tripura batsmen on a leash. Pratuysh Singh (24) and Milind, who also contributed 24 made useful contributions.
Batting first after winning the toss, the experienced Murali Vijay (18), who scored a ton in the previous game against J&K, fell lbw to M B Mura Singh after spanking four boundaries and looking in good touch.
The left-handed opener Abhinav Mukund, who was joined by Aparajith and the two played attractive shots on bothsides of the wicket.
In another match, Rahul Singh Gahlaut smashed 124 not out (101 balls, 10 fours, 8 sixes) to power Services to a seven-wicket win over Jammu & Kashmir.
Meanwhile, pacer Sandeep Sharma wrecked havoc with a career-best figures of 7 for 19 as Punjab beat Haryana by three wickets in a low scoring Elite Group B match of the Vijay Hazare Trophy National One-Day tournament. (PTI)
