Vijay Hazare Trophy 2019-20, Semi-final 2: Gujarat v Tamil Nadu – Preview, Prediction

Gujarat and Tamil Nadu, both from Elite Group C, managed to knock Delhi and Punjab – of the Composite Elite Group – in the quarter-finals of the 2019-20 Vijay Hazare Trophy. They will now clash in the second semi-final, at Just Cricket Academy, Bengaluru, which means that there will be at least one Group C representative in the final.

If anything, Gujarat brushed Delhi – the favourites coming into the match – aside with clinical efficiency. Chintan Gaja (3/27) and Piyush Chawla (2/40) bowled out Delhi for 223 before Parthiv Patel (76) and Priyank Panchal (80) added 150 in just 139 balls for the opening stand to seal the match. Gujarat won with over 11 overs in hand.

Tamil Nadu, on the other hand, did not win their semi-final but went through having won more league matches than Punjab. They scored 174/6 (Baba Aparajith 56) in 39 overs. Chasing an adjusted target of 195 in 39 overs, Punjab were 52/2 in 12.2 overs when rain put an end to proceedings.

Tamil Nadu came into the top eight having won all 9 of their league matches. Gujarat had won 8 of theirs, having lost only to Tamil Nadu. On that day, at Jaipur, Tamil Nadu had put up 274/9 (M Vijay 94, Abhinav Mukund 79, Roosh Kalaria 3/36) and bowled out Gujarat for 196 (Axar Patel 55, Mohammed Mohammed 3/20, M Ashwin 2/35). Given the way they have progressed

While Gujarat have come a long way from there, Tamil Nadu – now the only unbeaten side in the tournament – have looked stronger, though the Gujarat spinners can be a threat on this pitch.

Key players

Roosh Kalaria (Gujarat): From the top four teams, nobody has more than Kalaria’s haul of 21 wickets in the tournament. Incisive and accurate with both the new ball and the old, Kalaria has conceded under 4 an over. He can also be a threat with bat down the order.

Baba Aparajith (Tamil Nadu): Aparajith’s 526 runs in the tournament is next to only Yashasvi Jaiswal’s 564. He has been the rock that has held the Tamil Nadu line-up together, backing that with crucial breakthroughs in the middle overs.

Likely XIs

Gujarat: Parthiv Patel (c & wk), Priyank Panchal, Dhruv Raval, Bhargav Merai, Manprit Juneja, Karan Patel, Axar Patel, Piyush Chawla, Roosh Kalaria, Chintan Gaja, Arzan Nagwaswalla.

Tamil Nadu: Abhinav Mukund, M Vijay, Baba Aparajith, Vijay Shankar, Dinesh Karthik (c & wk), Washington Sundar, Shahrukh Khan, M Ashwin, Sai Kishore, Krishnamoorthy Vignesh, T Natarajan.

Prediction

Tamil Nadu to win a tight match.