While Varun braced himself to take a spot in India’s ODI squad with 18 wickets in six matches, the finishing blow came from Rajasthan’s Tomar, who 111 in the first innings laid the foot for a 19-run victory. Rajasthan will contest Vidarbha in the quarterfinals on Sunday, January 12.
Rajasthan secured their first-ever Vijay Hazare Trophy victory over Tamil Nadu as Abhijeet Tomar hit 111 off 125 balls. At the Kotambi Stadium, Tomar and skipper Mahipal Lomror (60 off 49 balls) made a 160-run partnership for the second wicket.
Rajasthan was bowled out for 267 runs in 47.3 overs, losing nine wickets for just 83 runs. The wickets were taken by left-arm spinner R Sai Kishore and seamer Sandeep Warrier, both of whom claimed two wickets each.
Shekhawat, the pace bowler who took Indrajith’s wicket with a catch behind, dismissed Vijay Shankar for 49 and secured the victory by getting Varun out for 18 in a nail-biting finish. He concluded the match with figures of 3 for 60, leading Rajasthan, the runners-up of the last Vijay Hazare Trophy, into the final eight by bowling Tamil Nadu out for 248 in 47.1 overs.
Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu’s spinner Varun Chakravarthy took a 5-wicket haul, but it was not enough to take over the opposition. Chakaravarthy scored 18 off 22 and also broke off with the bat as wickets kept falling on the other end. Tamil Nadu was eliminated from the quarterfinal as all out at 2448 in 47.1 overs
Tamil Nadu made a good start in the chase, as N Jagadeesan recorded a 52-ball 65. However, Rajasthan regained with some quick blows after Tamil Nadu posted 60 runs in 7 overs. TN players like Baba Indrajith, Vijay Shankar, and Ali kept chasing until they dominated the game in the 35th over with 185 for 4.
It was Ali’s run out that triggered a collapse and Tamil Nadu lost dominance. Shankar, Sai Kishore, and Chakravarthy tried to balance it but ended up folding at 248.
Brief Scores: Rajasthan 267 in 47.3 overs (Abhijeet Tomar 111, Mahipal Lomror 60; Varun CV 5-52, Sandeep Warrier 2-38) beat Tamil Nadu 248 in 49.1 overs (N Jagadeesan 65, Vijay Shankar 49; Aman Shekhawat 3-60, Aniket Choudhary 2-40) by 19 runs.
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