Jaipur: Out of favour India batsman Murali Vijay smashed a superb ton (117) to power Tamil Nadu to its fifth straight win in the Vijay Hazare Trophy Group C, beating Jammu & Kashmir by eight wickets here Friday.
Chasing 234 for a win, Vijay and his 166-run second wicket partnershp with Aparajith (86 not out) saw TN coast home.
Vijay, fresh from a county stint with Somerset, played superb shots all round the wicket. After a cautious start, the stylish right-hander went on overdrive to fashion Tamil Nadu’s win.
Earlier, sent in to bat, J&K made slow progress before three wickets, including that of captain Parvez Rasool (6) set the team back.
Opener Qamran Iqbal held firm and made 67 (87 balls, 7 fours, 1 six) and there were important contributions from the consistent Shubham Singh Pundir 66 and Abdul Samad, which helped J&K reach a respectable score of 233 in 50 overs.
For Tamil Nadu, left-arm spinner R Sai Kishore was the best bowler, returning figures of 2 for 17 in his quota of 10 overs. Left-arm medium pacer T Natarajan (2/45) also scalped two wickets.
Summarised scores:
Madhya Pradesh 282/7 in 50 overs (Naman Ojha 130 (144 balls, 7 fours, 4 sixes), Anand Singh Bais 61, Diwesh Gurdev Pathania 4/50, Raj Bahadur Pal 2/58) lost to Services 283/3 in 47 overs (Ravi Chauhan 118, Rahul Gahlaut 107). Services: 4 points, MP: 0.
J&K 238/9 in 50 overs (Qamran Iqbal 67, Shubham Singh Pundir 66, Abdul Samad 50, R Sai Kishore 2/17, T Natarajan 2/45) lost to Tamil Nadu 239/2 in 48 overs (M Vijay 117, B Aparajith 86 not out). TN: 4 points, J&K: 0.
Tripura 285/8 in 50 overs (Bishal Ghosh 128 (129balls, 10 fours, 3 sixes), Tanmay Mishra 56, Ravi Bishnoi 2/47, A Choudhary 2/54, Rahul Chahar 2/64) beat Rajasthan 238 all out in 47 overs (Mahipal Lomror 71). Tripura: 4 points, Rajasthan: 0.