Akash Vashisht spins Himachal to 71-run win over TN

Left-arm spinner Akash Vashisht bowled Himachal Pradesh to a 71-run win over Tamil Nadu with a seven-wicket second innings haul in a Ranji Trophy Group 'B' match on Thursday. Needing 217 for victory after Test spinner R Ashwin (4/55) helped Tamil Nadu bowl out Himachal for 154 in the second innings, the home team was bowled out for 145 in 67.5 overs. The Ankit Kalsi-led Himachal team picked up six points to bounce back from a defeat to Saurashtra in the season opener.

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Resuming at 133 for 7, Himachal added 21 runs to the overnight score as Ashwin bagged four wickets to end with match haul of 9 for 120. K Vignesh (2/19) and R Sai Kishore (2/23) finished with two wickets each. Tamil Nadu suffered an early jolt in the chase as the experienced Abhinav Mukund fell for a first-ball duck to Vaibhav Arora. Sai Kishore pushed up the order survived for 24 deliveries, before nicking one to the slips. This brought together debutant K Mukunth (48, 146 balls, 4 fours) and V Ganga Sridhar Raju (21, 61 balls, 1 four) and the duo showed a lot of patience and kept the HP bowlers at bay.

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They added 40 runs in a little over 19 overs as the home team pushed forward. After playing with a lot of resolve, Sridhar Raju fell to Vashisht, caught at slip by Prashanth Chopra. Skipper B Aparajith (43 not out) was the only batsmen other than Mukunth to show fight as the rest of the line-up caved in against the relentless spin bowling by Vashisht and the other tweakers. Keeper-batsman N Jagadeesan who has been going through a rough patch, fell for a duck while the promising M Shahrukh Khan made only 1. From 121 for 5, Tamil Nadu capitulated to be all out for 145 as Vasisht ran through the  lower order to ensure Tamil Nadu's second straight defeat.

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Brief scores:

Himachal Pradesh 158 all out in 71.4 overs (A Vashist 35, Mayank Dagar 33, Sumeet Varma 30; R Ashwin 5/65, R Sai Kishore 3/22) and 154 all out in 52.2 overs (SL Verma 36, Rishi Dhawan 35; R Ashwin 4/55) beat Tamil Nadu 96 all out (R Ashwin 24, J Kousik 21, Vaibhav Arora 3/21) and 145 all out in 67.5 overs (K Mukunth 48, B Aparajith 43 not out; Akash Vashisht 7/33) by 71 runs. HP: 6 points, Tamil Nadu: 0.

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