Plan was to bowl wicket to wicket: M Siddharth

CHENNAI: A day after notching up a clinical win against Mumbai, Tamil Nadu delivered yet another comprehensive performance as they beat Karnataka by 8 wickets in their

Vijay Hazare Trophy

clash at Thiruvananthapuram on Thursday. Tamil Nadu's spin trio --- M Siddharth (4 for 23),

R Sai Kishore

(3-28) and Washington Sundar (1-27) --- were instrumental in bowling out Karnataka for 122 which was subsequently chased down with 132 balls to spare.


Karnataka --- who won the toss and chose to bat --- had a shaky start when their opener R Samarth and No. 3 K Siddharth departed with just 20 on board in the 6th over. Medium-pacers Sandeep Warrier (1-22) and R Silambarasan (1-11) provided the initial breakthroughs for Tamil Nadu. Skipper Manish Pandey (40, 3x4) and Rohan Kadam (37, 1x4) kept Tamil Nadu bowlers at bay with their 67-run stand. The dismissal of Rohan --- cleaned up by Washington in the 23rd over --- turned the tide in Tamil Nadu's favour.

Left-arm spinner Siddharth then took over. He struck vital blows --- dismissing Manish and Karun Nair (9) in the 26th and 28th overs respectively. Karnataka failed to recover from those two strikes. Siddharth clean bowled Manish and then accounted for Karun --- caught by Sai Sudharsan. Siddharth was well complimented at the other end by Sai Kishore as Karnataka folded up for a below-par total. Karnataka, the 2019-20 champions, lost their last 8 wickets for just 35 runs. "My plan has always been to bowl wicket-to-wicket. The wicket had some assistance for the spinners and once I got the wicket of Manish, my confidence went up," Siddharth told TOI. This was the 23-year-old's best figures in List A matches.

A target of 123 could have been a tricky affair for Tamil Nadu. The openers --- Sai Sudharsan (18) and skipper N Jagadeesan (16) got starts but couldn't go on to play a longer innings. Their dismissal brought B Indrajith (51 n.o, 6x4) and Washington (31 n.o., 3x4) to the crease and their unbeaten 65-run partnership sealed Tamil Nadu's second win in-a-row. "Everyone in the side contributed and that's what makes this win special. Karnataka is a top-class side and doing well against them is always satisfying," said coach M Venkataramana.

Brief scores: Karnataka 122 in 36.3 overs (Manish Pandey 40, Rohan Kadam 37; M Siddharth 4-23, R Sai Kishore 3-28). Tamil Nadu 123-2 in 28 overs (B Indrajith 51 n.o., Washington Sundar 31 n.o.). Tamil Nadu won by 8 wickets