Vijay Hazare Trophy: Sai Kishore stars with five-for as TN edge out Rajasthan by 1 wicket

Left-arm spinner R Sai Kishore starred with a five-wicket haul as host Tamil Nadu edged out Rajasthan by one wicket for its second win in the Vijay Hazare Trophy Elite Group 'C' match here Sunday.

In a match played at the TI-Murugappa ground where Shahbaz Nadeem returned with a world record List 'A' a few days ago, Tamil Nadu bowled out its rival for 133 in 37.1 overs after skipper B Indrajith won the toss and elected to field first.

Rajasthan was on the backfoot in the very first over as Amitkumar Gautam was leg-before-wicket to M Mohammed off the second ball.

Sai Kishore, who picked up the experienced Robin Bist for 36-ball six, got into the act and picked up two more quick wickets to leave the rivals at 24 for 4.

Tajinder Dillon, who came in at No.7, was the only Rajasthan batsman to offer resistance with a knock of 55 (58b, 6x4s, 3x6) as the innings folded for 133.

Dhillon and Abhimanyu Lamba added 58 runs in 70 balls for the eight wickets from 66 for 7.

Sai Kishore finished with 5 for 39, his second five-wicket haul in List A matches while young mystery spinner C V Varun took three for 28.

In response, Tamil Nadu didn't have things easy as experienced Abhinav Mukund fell for a duck in the opening over.

Things got worse as N Jagadeesan, a centurion in the previous match and stand-in skipper Indrajith followed in quick succession to leave TN at 8 for 3.

M Kaushik Gandhi (18) and B Aparajith (17) strung together a partnership before the former was run-out. Later, Aparajith fell to Rahul Chahar.

The left-handed B Anirudh Sitaram contributed a vital 40 (3x4) but the team looked in trouble at 113 for 9 when he departed.

However, Mohammed (22 not out) and a determined T Natarajan (7 not out) saw Tamil Nadu home amid mounting tension.

Rahul Chahar took three for 35 in a disciplined bowling effort by the Rajasthan team.

In another match, Tripura opener Smit Patel's brilliant ton went in vain as the team went down by nine runs at the M A Chidambaram stadium while Haryana kept winning, beating Jammu & Kashmir by three wickets in a low-scoring game at the SRMC turf ground.

Team Rajasthan 133 in 37.1 overs (Tajinder Dhillon 55 (58b, 6x4s, 3x6), R Sai Kishore 5 for 39, C V Varun 3 for 28) lost to Tamil Nadu 134 for 9 in 34.5 overs (B Anirudh Sitaram 40, M Mohammed 22 not out, Rahul Chahar 3 for 35).