Vijay Hazare Trophy: Baba Indrajith's Ton Powers Tamil Nadu To Semi-Final, Rajasthan Pacers Crush Kerala

Seasoned Baba Indrajith helped himself to a fine hundred while another senior campaigner Vijay Shankar scored a half-century as Tamil Nadu cruised into the semi-finals of the Vijay Hazare Trophy with a seven wicket victory over Mumbai in Rajkot on Monday. Tamil Nadu will meet Haryana in the first semi-final after the latter comfortably got past Bengal by four wickets in another last eight encounter. The second semi-final will be played between formidable Karnataka and a spirited Rajasthan. Karnataka got past Vidarbha by seven wickets in an easy chase while Rajasthan was the only team to defend successfully as they hammered Kerala by 200 runs in another last eight clash.

Easy for TN

It was Tamil Nadu's experienced spinners R Sai Kishore (3/51) and IPL specialist Varun Chakravarthy (3/37), who were instrumental in bowling out Mumbai for a meagre 227 in just 48.3 overs.

Prasad Pawar (59) and Shivam Dube (45) did try to push the scoring rate with an 82-run stand for the fifth wicket in just 12.4 overs but the TN slow bowlers scalped six wickets for 53 runs in quick time to spark a middle-order collapse.

Former India skipper Ajinkya Rahane (1) failed once again.

From 174 for 4 in the 35th over, Mumbai suddenly lost track as another left-arm spinner M Siddharth and part-timer Baba Aparajith also took two wickets apiece.

In reply, Tamil Nadu were never under pressure, even when they were reduced 103 for 3 but Indrajith (103 not out off 98 balls) and Vijay (51 not out off 58 balls) added 126 runs in less than 20 overs to knock off the target.

While Indrajith hit 11 fours, Vijay's innings had eight fours and a six.

Chahal too hot to handle

Ignored from the national T20 squad, veteran Yuzvendra Chahal warmed up nicely for the