TN beat MP in 20-20 championship; take its tally to 12 points

Ahmedabad, Apr 19 (UNI) In an exciting match, favourites Tamil Nadu clinched a 12-run victory over Madhya Pradesh to take their points tally to 12 points in Twenty-20 championship on the last-day of qualifying rounds here today.

Batting first after losing the toss, Tamil Nadu were all out for 143 in 19.3 overs, in which major contributions were from M Vijay (35), Dinesh Karthik (27) and S Vidyut (25).

With this victory, Tamily Nadu are on top with 12 points, However, which team will make it to the final has to wait the result of the evening fixture slated between another two giants-- Mumbai and Bengal, who both are on eight points each.

In case of a tie, as per the rules of the Championship, it will be resolved with the results of individual encounters between these teams. The final will be played as a night match at Mumbai on April 21.

TN began its quest with dismal performance as both openers S Anirudha and V Devendran returned to pavillion with individual contributions of 7 and 2 runs, respectively. It also lost last three wickets -- R Prasanna, Y Yomahesh, R Ashwin -- for just three runs to end up with 143 runs in 19.3 overs.

While MP openers -- Naman Ojha and Jafar Ali chasing 144 runs to win, gave a solid start with their individual contribution of 12 and 22 runs which was later supported by No 3 and 5 batsmen M Pasha and Rahul Bakshi with their individual scorings of 25 and 23 runs, respectively.

But tight bowling that was well supported by equally good fielding made the day for TN by keeping MP batting line-up undercheck to restrict it to score just 131 runs for loss of 5 wickets in stipulated 20 over. This victory gave four valuable points to TN to make its tally 12.

Brief Score: Tamil Nadu: All out for 143 runs in 19.3 overs (M Vijay (35), Dinesh Karthik (27) and S Vidyut (25), Anand Rajan 3 for 34, T Sudhindra 2 for 19, Rajesh Kanojiya 2 for 28).

Madhya Pradesh: 131 runs for 5 wickets in 20 overs (M Pasha (25), Rashul Bakshi (23), Jafar Ali (22).

UNI