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New Delhi | 26-year-old Shahrukh Khan was in blistering form against in the ongoing Vijay Hazare Trophy 2021 as he smashed a quickfire 79 off 39 deliveries. His knock proved to be the ultimate difference-maker as Tamil Nadu ended with a daunting first innings total of 354/8 in their stipulated 50 overs and clinched the match by 151 runs. N Jagadeesan was the highest scorer in the innings as he ended with 102 from 101 deliveries.
The encounter was a repeat of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy as Karnataka came with the intention of revenge. Karnataka captain Manish Pandey won the toss and chose to bowl in the second quarter-final played at the KL Saini Ground in Jaipur. The decision proved to be Achilles heel as Tamil Nadu batters showed no mercy to the opposition bowling attack.
Shahrukh’s 79-run cameo included seven fours and six sixes as he ended with a strike rate of 202. Sai Kishore and Dinesh Karthik were also not sitting back as they both scored 61 and 44 respectively to set the tone for the record five-time champions. There was not much success for the bowlers as all proved expensive on the day. Praveen Dubey did manage to take three wickets but proved costly as he gave away 67 runs in his 10 overs.
In reply, Karnataka never looked like they were in the run chase. Devdutt Padikkal got out for a two-ball duck to Sandeep Warrier. Rohan Kadam and Krishnamurthy Siddarth tried to stitch a partnership but the opener lost his wicket to R Silambarasan in the 12th over. Skipper Manish Pandey too failed to make an impact and got out after scoring just nine runs.
There were few contributions in the middle order from Abhinav Manohar (34), Srinivas Sharath (43) and Praveen Dubey (26) but the required run rate kept climbing up. Silambarasan took four wickets for 36 runs in eight overs whereas Washington Sundar took three wickets for 43 runs. Karnataka bundled out for 203 in 39 overs as Tamil Nadu won the match by 151 runs.
