Tamil Nadu skipper Dinesh Karthik was at his best as he played a superb knock of 97 runs off just 62 balls with 8 boundaries and 4 sixes as Tamil Nadu handed a 74-run loss to Bengal and registered their fourth straight win in the Group ‘C’ of the Vijay Hazare Trophy cricket tournament on Tuesday (1 October).

After winning the toss, Bengal decided to bowl first. As Tamil Nadu went in to bat, at one point in their innings, the scorecard read 123 at the loss of 5 wickets in 37 overs, but thanks to skipper Karthik’s knock, they finished strongly with a respectable 286 runs on the board at the loss 7 wickets in their quota of 50 overs.

Along with Karthik, another Tamil Nadu batsman Shahrukh Khan scored quick-fire 69 off 45 balls with four boundaries and five sixes. The duo ended up adding 153 runs in just 12 overs, smashing the Bengal bowlers all over the park.

In reply, Bengal was bowled out for 212 in 45.3 overs, thanks to a disciplined effort by the Tamil Nadu bowlers. The Tamil Nadu medium-pacers K Vignesh (2 for 26) and T Natarajan (2 for 33) reduced Bengal to 21 for 5 before the left-handed Shahbaz (107, 131 balls, 7 fours, 6 sixes) fought back single-handedly.

Brief scores:

Tamil Nadu: 286 for 7 in 50 overs (Dinesh Karthik 97, Shahrukh Khan 69 not out, Vijay Shankar 41, Ashoke Dinda 2/60) beat Bengal 212 all out in 45.3 overs (Shahbaz Ahmed 107, K Vignesh 2/26).

Tamil Nadu: 4 points, Bengal: 0.