Mumbai, Sep 17: Tamil Nadu beat Delhi by four-wickets in the three-day final of the Coromandel King All India Moin-ud-Dowla Gold Cup invitation tournament at the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium in Hyderabad on Sunday. While chasing 190 in 40 overs in the second innings on the final day, a patient innings by Vijay Shankar (39*) helped Tamil Nadu win the match in an exciting last-over finish.
After taking a first innings lead of 22 runs, Delhi pacer Parvinder Awana claimed Athiraj Shandilya and K.B. Arun Karthick to reduce TN to 20 for two in 5.5 overs. It was then left to young Baba Aparajith, who had recently impressed with his batting abilities at the U-19 World Cup, to steer his team out of trouble. Although he initially seemed uncomfortable against pacer Ishant Sharma, the batsman regained his composure and went on score a well compiled 72. As he gained in confidence, he scored freely and took the team closer to the target.
During his 85-ball stay at the crease, Aparajith hit a six each off left-arm spinner Vikas Misra and left-arm fast bowler Pradeep Sangwan. However, his knock was ended by Sharma. The Delhi pacer then followed up with a wicket off the next delivery to keep Delhi in the game, with the opposition needing 38 runs off the last five overs. But it was Sharma who turned out to be most expensive bowler in the end. The pacer was smashed for 25 runs in 2.1 overs as TN inched towards the target. Vijay Shankar displayed nerves of steel as he took his team across the line with an unbroken 47-run stand off 33 balls for the seventh wicket with wicketkeeper-batsman R Rohit (13*). Eventually, Vijay dispatched Sharma to the mid-wicket fence to score the winning runs.
Earlier, Aswin Christ and Mohammed S. Mohammed, rocked Delhi on the back foot by picking quick wickets and left them tottering at 16 for three early in the innings. The duo finished with three wickets apiece. However, Milind Kumar with 41 off 64 and Punit Bist with 30 off 29 helped Delhi set TN a respectable target.
Mr. G. Vinod, president of HCA, gave away the prizes after the match.
Brief scores: Delhi 265 & 167 in 39.5 overs (Milind Kumar 41, Punit Bist 30, Aswin Christ 37/3, Mohammed 43/3, M. Ashwin 53/3) lost to Tamil Nadu 243 & 191 for six in 39.2 overs (B. Aparajith 72, Vijay Shankar 39 n.o., Ishant Sharma 46/3) by 4 wickets
