Tamil Nadu registered a thrilling one-wicket win over Uttar Pradesh while Axar Patel’s unbeaten 36 ensured Gujarat beat Vidarbha by two wickets to qualify for the Vijay Hazare Trophy 20116 semi-finals. Low totals often result in exciting run chases and in both the matches there were multiple twists as the chasing teams suffered many a jolt before crossing the finish-line. After a day’s break, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu will play the second semi-final at Alur Cricket Stadium on Satuday. Delhi, who beat Jharkhand will face Himachal in the other semi-final match at the M.Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. Uttar Pradesh v Tamil Nadu: Uttar Pradesh 168/10 48.2 overs (Rinku Singh 60; L Balaji 3/32, R Ashwin 2/27) lost to Tamil Nadu 169/9 in 41.3 overs (Baba Aparajith 48; Bhuvneshwar Kumar 3/25, Piyush Chawla 3/45) by 1 wicket Despite being bowled out for a paltry 168 runs, Uttar Pradesh showed they had enough in the tank to make Tamil Nadu work hard for every run. The R. Ashwin-led side - which had been brilliant in the league matches - huffed and puffed along the way - before managing to reach to safety with the last wicket knocking off the runs in a hectic chase. Uttar Pradesh had decided to bat first after winning the toss, but the bold decision proved costly as they were 41-5 inside the first 15 overs. Rinku Singh fought bravely and was provided good support by Piyush Chawla as the two added 66 runs for the seventh wicket, which was also the highest partnership in the match. L Balaji picked three wickets while Ashwin bagged two. With two of the best swing bowlers – Praveen Kumar and Bhuvneshwar Kumar- in their lineup, UP were hoping to strike early and the two swing masters did just that. Praveen struck in his first over to remove Karthik for a duck, while Bhuvneshwar dismissed Abhinav Mukund from the other end. Bhuvneshwar again struck twice in his fourth over to reduce Tamil Nadu to 17-4. The fall of quick wickets clearly rattled Tamil Nadu and it was palpable when had Balaji walked out to bat at No.5. Amidst the carnage it was M.Vijay, who blocked initially before stepping out regularly to the spinners. With Baba Indrajith, he added 64 runs on the board to tilt the balance before being trapped in front to a ball that kept extremely low. Captain Ashwin added 35 runs with R. Satish but UP bounced back yet again with Chawla striking twice this time. With the last man in the middle, Tamil Nadu needed three runs as the game headed for an exciting finish. With Rahil Shah taking the single, R.Sathish made sure he retained the strike with a single on the final ball, before pulling a short ball off Praveen Kumar for the winning run. Sathish had earlier bowled 10 overs and picked up one wicket. Gujarat v Vidarbha: Vidarbha 195/10 in 48 overs (Faiz Fazal 52, Jitesh Sharma 51; Jasprit Bumrah 4/38) lost to Gujarat 198/8 (Parthiv Patel 57, Axar Patel 36 not out, Akshay Wakhare 3/30, Ravikumar Thakur 3/46) Axar Patel’s batting prowess and the ability to finish off games was put to test on Thursday and the young left-hander did not disappoint with a valuable 36 not out that handed Gujarat seal a semi-final berth. Chasing 196, Gujarat seemed to be in complete control with skipper and opener Parthiv Patel attacking from the word go. Gujarat put up 50 on the board for the first wicket and never seemed to be in trouble as Parthiv brought up his half-century in just 46 balls. Parthiv’s stumping on 57 opened an unlikely window for Vidarbha and after the fall of his wicket, Chirag Gandhi and Rujul Bhatt added 31 on the board for the fourth wicket. However, they lost the next four wickets for just 38 runs. Despite the collapse, Axar was unruffled and kept the scorecboard moving by taking the singles. He shared a 36-run stand with No. 10 Hardik Patel as Gujarat got to the total in the penultimate over. Earlier, Vidarbha openers Faiz Fazal and Jitesh Sharma registered half-centuries and No.3 Ganesh Sathish made 47, but a complete failure from the middle order and lower order meant they were bowled out inside 200 despite a good start.