Left-arm spinner Axar Patel on Saturday wreaked havoc recording a career-best List A figures of six for 43 as Gujarat beat Tamil Nadu by 31 runs to set up a title clash with Gautam Gambhir-led Delhi in the final of the Vijay Hazare Trophy One-Day tournament.
Batting first, Gujarat scored a decent 248 for eight with usefu lcontributions from middle-order batsmen Chirag Gandhi (71) and Manprit Juneja (74). Captain Ravichandran Ashwin was the most successful bowler for Tamil Nadu as he claimed three for 51 in 10 overs at the KSCA ground in Alur.
In reply, Tamil Nadu were all out for 217 in 47.3 overs with Axar running through the batting order as he bagged six for 43 in his 10 overs.
India discard Abhinav Mukund carried his bat through the innings with an unbeaten knock of 104 but found little support from the other end.
Mukund and fellow discard Dinesh Karthik (41) had added 84 runs in only 16.1 overs before Gujarat skipper Parthiv Patel introduced Axar as the sixth bowler into the attack.
From 84 for no loss, Tamil Nadu slumped to 99 for four as the left-arm spinner struck four times in his first three overs.
Karthik, along with Baba twins Aparajith (7) and Indrajith (1) were dismissed quickly and India's Test specialist Murali Vijay (0) also departed without opening his account.
Three of the four batsmen were stumped as they tried to play attacking strokes.
Tamil Nadu never recovered from the setback even though left-hander Mukund carried the fight till the end playing 142 balls and hitting six fours.
There was a glimmer of hope when Mukund along with skipper Ashwin (22) added 51 runs for the sixth wicket to take Tamil Nadu to 175 for five.
But once Ashwin became Axar's fifth victim, Tamil Nadu's run-chase ran out of steam.
Mukund virtually had no support at the other end as Jasprit Bumrah finished the game with couple of fuller deliveries to polish off the tail.
Brief Scores:
Gujarat 248/8 in 50 overs (Manprit Juneja 74, Chirag Gandhi 71, Ravi Ashwin 3/51)
Tamil Nadu 217 in 47.3 overs (A Mukund 104 no, Dinesh Karthik 41, Axar Patel 6/43).
Chand's 80 lifts Delhi into final
Delhi cruised into the final of the Vijay Hazare One-Day tournament as they rode on Unmukt Chand's unbeaten 80 to register a six-wicket victory over Himachal Pradesh in the first semi-final in Bangalore.
After Delhi captain Gautam Gambhir elected to field, his bowlers restricted Himachal to 200 for nine in 50 overs at the M Chinnaswamy stadium.
Bipul Sharma top-scored for Himachal with an aggressive 45-ball 51, which was studded with four boundaries and three sixes, including a huge one that landed on one of the stands.
Sharma was ably supported by Mayank Dagar, who put on 57-run partnership for eighth wicket, after Himachal were precariously placed at 131 for seven.
Chasing a modest total of 201, Delhi were helped by Chand's 86-ball knock, which was decorated with seven boundaries and two sixes.
India opener Shikhar Dhawan was dismissed for 39 by Bipul Sharma, who had the southpaw foxed by his orthodox left-arm spin. Dhawan took 53 balls to score those runs and hit five boundaries.
Gautam Gambhir, Rishabh Pant and Milind made 16, 18 and 10, respectively, before Chand and Nitish Rana (19 not out) guided Delhi past Himachal total with 8.5 overs to spare.
No Himachal bowler impressed as they could only get four wickets with Ronit More, Nikhil Gangta and Bipul Sharma bagging one each.
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