Kaushik Gandhi’s century and a five-wicket haul by medium-fast bowler Aswin Crist fashioned Tamil Nadu’s eight-wicket win over Himachal Pradesh at the Barabati Stadium here on Tuesday.
The third successive victory was in keeping with Tamil Nadu’s excellent showing in this tournament with a collective contribution in every department making it a team to watch out for.
Asked to bat, Himachal suffered early losses when openers Ankush Bains (7) and Prashant Chopra (13), with hundreds in back-to-back matches, fell within 27 runs and the team never recovered from the blows.
On a two-paced pitch, Crist was the star bowler as he aimed to pick wickets than look to restrict. “I concentrated on hitting the deck hard. The pitch was slightly slow and it was important to bowl on the stumps. It was more of a mindset than technique. I just stayed calm and relaxed. I was well aware of the nature of the pitch and the batsmen later understood the situation well,’ said Crist.
Kaushik lost partner G.S. Raju (5) cheaply but did not digress from his course. “I was told to stay at the wicket,” he said. His 130-ball essay, with 12 fours and two sixes, was built around his excellent temperament as he took charge of playing the dominant role.
Century partnership
B. Aparajith and Kaushik added 107 runs for the second wicket to place Tamil Nadu in a strong position. Aparajith’s 62 off 65 balls (five fours and a six) was just the impetus that Tamil Nadu needed before the seasoned Karthik arrived in the middle to guide the chase.
“Batsmen actually played the supporting role to the bowlers,” said Kaushik. “Our bowling has been the highlight of the tournament thus far. Right through the season they have done an excellent job.”
Reflecting on his century, Kaushik noted, “This is only my third one-day match and I was just looking to bat out the overs. I don’t have much experience of this format and I knew I couldn’t approach it like a four-day match. I thought they were 40-run short because this was a two-paced pitch. My intent was to score runs without taking risks. Today was my day.”
Kaushik and Karthik (45 off 41 balls with six fours) added 86 runs for the unfinished third wicket as Tamil Nadu coasted home in style.
The scores: HP 216 in 49.5 overs (Ankit Kaushik 62, Robin Bist 57, Pankaj Jaiswal 30, Aswin Crist five for 31) lost to TN 217 for two in 42.1 overs (Kaushik Gandhi 107 n.o., B. Aparajith 52, Dinesh Karthik 45 n.o.).
