Mukund, Karthik shine in Tamil Nadu win over Rajasthan

Jaipur (PTI): Half-centuries by out-of-favour India opener Abhinav Mukund (75, 83 balls, 7 fours) and Baba Aparajith (52, 67 balls, 2 fours) helped Tamil Nadu put it across host Rajasthan by six wickets in its opening Group 'C' match of the Vijay Hazare Trophy here on Tuesday.

Skipper Dinesh Karthik with a brisk knock of 52 not out (52 balls, 4 fours, 1 six) saw the team home in the company of M Shahrukh Khan (47 not out, 39 balls, 6 fours).

The left-handed Mukund and Aparajith set the platform for Tamil Nadu after the aggressive N Jagadeesan (7) fell in the seventh over to left-arm pacer Aniket Choudhary.

Mukund played some fine shots while Aparajith preferred to be watchful and rotated the strike well.

Earlier, sent in to bat by Tamil Nadu, the home team recovered from 53 for 4 to post 261 in the 50 overs, thanks to a strokeful knock of 77 by right-hander Arjit Gupta.

Gupta, who hit seven fours and three sixes in 82 balls, was involved in a 87-run partnership with Ashok Menaria (35).

Medium-pacer K Vignesh bowled well to start with and got opener Chetan Bist (4) in the second over. He dismissed the other opener Manender Singh (7) and the key wicket of captain Mahipal Lomror (11, 27 balls) to reduce Rajasthan to 53 for 4.

In other matches on Tuesday, Tripura defeated Jammu & Kashmir by two wickets and Gujarat beat Bengal by 38 runs.

Brief scores: Rajasthan 261 for 9 in 50 overs (Arjit Gupta 77, Rahul Chahar 48, Ashok Menaria 35, K Vignesh 3/34, M Mohammed 2/58, R Sai Kishore 2/66) lost to Tamil Nadu (Abhinav Mukund 75, B Aparajith 52, Dinesh Karthik 52 not out, Shahrukh Khan 48 not out, Aniket Choudhary 1/53) by six wickets. Points: TN: 4, Rajasthan: 0.

Gujarat 253 for 8 in 50 overs (Bhargav Merai 63, Manprit Juneja 47, Kathan D Patel 36, Ashoke Dinda 3/58) beat Bengal 215 all out in 46.2 overs (Shreevats Goswami 79, Anustup Majumdar 39, Rush Kalaria 4/34, Axar Patel 1/47) by 38 runs. Points: Gujarat: 4, Bengal: 0.

Jammu & Kashmir 197 all out in 43.2 overs (Qamran Iqbal 43, Fazil Rashid 38, Harmit Singh 3/32) lost to Tripura 198 for 8 (Bishal Ghosh 62, Milind Kumar 77, Umar Nazir 3/45) by 2 wickets. Points: Tripura: 4, J&K: 0.