Vijay Hazare Trophy: Asnodkar’s century helps Goa turn tables on Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu was left ruing its lapses on the field when Asnodkar was let off by V Yo Mahesh at deep square leg on 57 with the team score on 90 for one. Asnodkar essayed a few delightful strokes all around the ground and early on in his innings he unleashed a powerful square cut off Ashwin for his first boundary. 

Soon after getting to his hundred, the diminutive Asnodkar was out hit wicket to VijayShankar. But, by then the match was way beyond TN’s grasp. 

Earlier, TN opener Murali Vijay scored 51 (69b, 6x4, 1x6) and shared an 89-run association for the first wicket with M Kaushik Gandhi (43). Run-making proved to be a laborious task on what looked like a sluggish surface. Aparajith batted diligently to record a half-century 52 (70b, 2x4). But with Goan spinners sticking to a tight line, runs were hard to come by. Asnodkar’s innings blossomed in the company of captain Sagun Kamat as the duo raised 98 crucial runs in 121 balls for the second wicket before Kamat was caught plumb in front to a ball that kept low from B Aparajith. Asnodkar wasn’t fazed by his captain’s dismissal and entered nineties with a smashing six over long-on off Aparajith. He continued in the same vein and brought up his century with a boundary over midwicket off Vijay Shankar. 

Speaking after the match, Asnodkar admitted he got a little lucky with the dropped chance but said his team reaped the reward for executing its plans perfectly. 

“When you score a hundred, at some point you are bound to get lucky. Today was my day. It was good that my century helped the team win. We didn’t let Tamil Nadu get off to a flying start. We didn’t want to give any wickets to Ashwin and since the target was not that big, we could target the other bowlers,” he said.

BRIEF SCORES: Tamil Nadu 210 in 48.5 overs (M Kaushik Gandhi 43, M Vijay 51, B Aparajith 52, Darshan Misal 3/42, Srinivas Fadte 3/51) lost to Goa 211/6 in 46.2 overs (Swapnil Asnodkar 103, Sagun Kamat 38, R Ashwin 2/30). Mumbai 317/8 in 50 overs (Akhil Herwadkar 37, Siddhesh Lad 129, Aditya Tare 51, Ishwar Chaudhary 3/46, Piyush Chawla 2/69) bt Gujarat 276 in 47.4 overs (Priyank Panchal 89, Bhargav Merai 64, Roystan Dias 4/64). Madhya Pradesh 184 in 44.2 overs (P Girinath Reddy 6/24) lost to Andhra 190/4 in 38.5 overs (Ashwin Hebbar 42, G Hanuma Vihari 61, Ricky Bhui 32*, D B Ravi Teja 33*).