Vignesh, Karthik star as TN beats Kerala

Visakhapatnam, Jan 9 (PTI) Medium-pacer K Vignesh with a five-wicket haul and Dinesh Karthiks half-century starred as Tamil Nadu beat Kerala by 35 runs in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy South Zone T20 cricket tournament here today.

Tamil Nadu made 184 for 7 in 20 overs and restricted Kerala 149 for 7 to emerge victor.

It is the team's second consecutive win after beating Andhra yesterday.

Sent in to bat by Kerala captain Sachin Baby, Tamil Nadu lost K Bharath Shankar (7) in the third over, caught and bowled by Sandeep Warrier.

Dinesh Karthik, who hammered a quickfire half-century against Andhra Pradesh yesterday, continued his good form and played numerous attractive strokes.

He reached 50 in 28 balls and lashed 20 runs in the next 10 balls he faced to power Tamil Nadu.

Along with the left-handed M S Washington Sundar, Karthik added 92 runs in quick time as the Kerala bowlers struggled to contain them.

Karthik looked in impressive touch as he blasted eight fours and four sixers in his 38-ball 71 to put Tamil Nadu on course for a solid score.

He was dismissed by Fabid Ahmed going for a big shot only to be caught by Basil Thampi.

Sundar too played confidently and hit two boundaries and a six in his knock of 30 before he became Warrier's second scalp.

Skipper B Aparajith (34 off 25 balls, 1X4, 2X6) and the aggressive N Jagadeesan (35 off 19 balls, 3X4, 2X6) put the Kerala bowlers to the sword and took the score to 184.

Warrier was the best bowler for Kerala as he took two wickets and conceded only 23 runs in fours.

Basil Thampi was the most expensive, giving away 52 runs in his four overs and took one wicket.

Chasing a rather stiff target, Kerala were in early trouble at 11 for 3 after 2.4 overs as Vignesh wrecked the top-order.

He scalped Sanju Samson (2), Vishnu Vinod (1) and Rohan Prem (4) in his first two overs to hand Tamil Nadu the edge.

K B Arun Karthick (31) and skipper Baby (51) got together to add 71 runs but it wasn't enough to offset the early losses.

Later, he scalped Baby, having him caught by Sanjay Yadav after he had completed his half-century. Salman Nazir (38) indulged in some big hitting towards the end, hitting five sixers in his 20-ball knock, delaying the inevitable.

While Vignesh took five wickets, Athisayaraj Davidson and R Sanjay Yadav got a wicket apiece.

Brief scores: Tamil Nadu 184 for 4 in 20 overs (Dinesh Karthik 71, N Jagadeesan 35 not out, B Aparajith 34 not out) beat Kerala 149 for 7 in 20 overs (Sachin Baby 51, Salman Nazir 38, K B Arun Karthick 31, K Vignesh 5 for 23).

Points: Tamil Nadu: 4, Kerala: 0.

Hyderabad 181 for 5 in 20 overs (Akshath Reddy 65, Ambati Rayudu 44, Felix Alemao 2 for 35) vs Goa 162 for 9 in 20 overs (Sagun Kamath 47, Ravi Kiran 4 for 23). At Vizianagaram: Karnataka 156 for 8 in 20 overs (Stuart Binny 47, K V Sashikanth 3 for 32) lost to Andhra Pradesh 157 for 3 in 18.2 overs (Ricky Bhui 46 not out, Ashwin Hebbar 35).

Points: Andhra : 4, Karnataka: 0