Kerala maul Goa by 104 runs
Kerala wicket keeper-batsman Sanju Samson made a case for himself for the upcoming T20s against Bangladesh by hitting a blistering double century as Kerala thrashed Goa by 104 runs in their Elite Group A game of the Vijay Hazare Trophy, in Bengaluru, on Saturday.
Riding on Samson's record-breaking unbeaten 212 off just 129 balls, Kerala posted a mammoth 377/3 on the board and restricted Goa to 153/3 after play was called off due to inclement weather.
Goa were 104 runs short of the revised target.
The cynosure of all eyes at the Alur Cricket Stadium II near Bengaluru was Samson.
Opting to bat, Kerala lost openers skipper Robin (10) and Vishnu Vinod (7) cheaply and were in a spot of bother at 31-2.
But Samson, who struck 21 fours and 10 sixes in his knock, hammered the opposition bowlers.
With this knock, Samson holds the record for the highest Indian List A domestic score, after he went past Karn Kaushal's 202, scored for Uttarakhand.
Samson is the eighth Indian to score a double hundred in List A cricket. His is also the highest score by a wicket-keeper in List A matches, surpassing 209 by Abid Ali.
Also Samson hit the fastest List A 200 by an Indian, (in 129 balls). He also became the first Indian to score a list A 200 at number three position.
Samson and two-down Sachin Baby (127 off 135 balls) conjured a massive 338-run stand for the third wicket.
Baby struck seven boundaries and four sixes.
The partnership of 338 between Samson and Baby is a new List A record for the third wicket, as they went past the 309 run stand betweenTim Curtis and Tom Moody for Worcestershire in 1994.
Samson thus made a case for himself and played a timely knock, with Rishabh Pant struggling and the future of veteran stumper-batsman M S Dhoni uncertain.
The chase was always going to be uphill task for Goa, who fell way beyond the target.
Elsewhere, Jharkhand eked out a three-wicket win versus Andhra with middle-order batsman Virat Singh remaining unbeaten at 74.
Karnataka defeated Saurashtra by eight wickets to win full four points.
Brief Scores: Kerala 377/3 (Sanju Samson 212 not out, Sachin Baby 127; Lakshay Garg 1-73) beat Goa 153/3 (Tunish Sawkar 56, Aditya Kaushik 50 not out; Sandeep Warrior 1-22) by 104 runs. Kerala 4 points, Goa 0 points.
Andhra 265/6 (Kranthi Kumar 72, Ricky Bhuvi 59; Varun Aaron 2-54 ) lost to Jharkhand 266/7 (Virat Singh 74 not out, Saurabh Tiwari 56; Prithvi Raj Yarra 2-58) by 3 wickets. Jharkhand 4 points, Andhra 0 points.
Saurashtra 212 all out (Prerak Mankad 86, Chirag Jani 66; M Prasidh Krishna 5-19) lost to Karnataka 213/2 (Devdutt Padikkal 103 not out, Manish Pandey 67 not out; Prerak Mankad 2-33) by 8 wickets. Karnataka 4 points, Saurashtra 0 points.
Abhinav Mukund, Vijay Shankar toy with MP attack in TN's win
Abhinav Mukund (147, 139 balls, 17 fours, 2 sixes) and Vijay Shankar (90, 93 balls, 7 fours, 2 sixes) pulverised the Madhya Pradesh attack to help Tamil Nadu pile up 360 for 4 on the way to a massive 211-run win in a Vijay Hazare Trophy Group 'C' match in Jaipur.
It was the eighth successive win for the Dinesh Karthik-led side, which has been in tremendous form.
Gujarat lies in second spot, having won all its seven games.
Dinesh Karthik too joined in the fun as he pulverised the hapless MP attack for a 28-ball 65 (8 fours, 3 sixes) in a thoroughly dominant performance by Tamil Nadu.
Madhya Pradesh was sent on a leather hunt after its captain Naman Ojha invited Tamil Nadu to bat after winning the toss.
The stylish Mukund, who has been in superb form right through the tournament and Murali Vijay (24, 20 balls, 4 fours) started off in right earnest before the latter was bowled by Ishwar Pandey.
Baba Aparajith, who has been in excellent touch for Tamil Nadu, fell for just six, run out by Anand Singh Bais.
That brought Mukund and in-form Vijay Shankar, who simply toyed with the MP attack that had no answer to the duo's batting.
In a splendid 191-run partnership the two made sure Tamil Nadu had a solid foundation, which Karthik built on.
Mukund, apart from some lovely drives, lofted two big sixes, while Shankar was his usual flamboyant self.
Once Shankar and Mukund, whose 100 came off 108 Benballs, departed, it was Karthik's turn to sizzle.
Karthik, who has displayed his abilities at the highest level, tore into the MP attack and the bowlers were at their wits' end as he blasted boundaries and three sixes to all parts of the ground.
Chasing 361 for a win, Madhya Pradesh kept losing wickets at regular intervals and was never in the hunt, collapsing to 149 all out in the 29th over from 100 for 3.
Leggie M Ashwin took 3 wickets for 14 runs while Aparajith hastened the end, taking two wickets in the four balls he bowled.
Tamil Nadu takes on Gujarat in its final league fixture on October 16.
Brief scores: Tamil Nadu 360 for 4 in 50 overs (Abhinav Mukund 147, Vijay Shankar 90, Dinesh Karthik 65 not out) beat Madhya Pradesh 149 all out in 28.4 overs (Anand Singh Bais 34, M Ashwin 3/14, Aparajith 2/0, Abhishek Tanwar 2/39, R Sai Kishore 2/42). TN: 4 points, MP: 0.
Rajasthan 268 for 5 in 50 overs (Deepak Chahar 63 not out, R K Bishnoi 61 not, YB Kothari 59, Cheta Bist 49, Mohd Sarfaraz Ashraf 3/34) beat Bihar 109 all out in 36.3 overs (Rahmat Ullah 38, Chiranjivi Kumar 32, Rahul Chahar 4/45). Rajasthan: 4 points, Bihar: 0.
Tripura 235 for 9 in 50 overs (Udiyan Bose 85 (120 balls, 6 fours, 2 sixes), Milind Kumar 64, M B Murasingh 31, Shivendra Singh 3/47) lost to Railways 238 for 9 in 49 overs (Karn Sharma 109 not out (87 balls, 3 fours, 8 sixes), Arindam Ghosh 60, A S Sarkar 2/40, Neelambuj Vats 2/45), Murasingh 2/59. Railways: 4 points, Tripura: 0.
