CG beat defending champions Tamil Nadu

Raipur: Chhattisgarh defeated a strong Tamil Nadu in a low scoring T20 match at Lucknow on Thursday to start the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy with a winning note. Winning the toss, Chhattisgarh opted to bat first. However, the team could only score 132 for five in the stipulated 20 overs with Harpreet Singh Bhatia scoring 49 off 40 including two sixes and two fours, all-rounder Ajay Mandal contributing 38 off 32 including three sixes and Shashank Singh making valuable contribution of 19 from nine balls.Varun claimed two wickets for Tamil Nadu. Chasing the target of 133, Tamil Nadu could score 129 for the loss of nine wickets falling short of six runs. Ravi Kiran claimed three wickets for Chhattisgarh while Shahbaz Khan took two. Spinners Sumit Ruikar and Ajay Mandal claimed one wicket each.