On Sunday, Karnataka lifted the Syed Mushtaq Trophy after a thrilling one-run win against Tamil Nadu in the final. The encounter went into the last over, which saw off-spinner K Gowtham trying to defend 13 runs. Despite being hit for boundaries of the first two deliveries of the over, Gowtham conceded only three runs in the remaining four deliveries and thus helped his side win the title.
The fans surrounded the Lalbhai Contractor Stadium to witness a game that was worthy of a final as Karnataka restricted Tamil Nadu to 179 for 6 after posting 180 for 5 on the board.
Karnataka grabs the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy:
After being asked to bat first, Karnataka rode on skipper Manish Pandey’s 45-ball 60 to post a total of 180/5 in 20 overs. In reply, Tamil Nadu got off to a slow start, before Baba Aparajith fired 40 runs in 25 balls, and Vijay Shankar smashed 44 runs in 27 balls to make the match competitive.
Karnataka was put in to bat by Dinesh Karthik, who saw his opposite number Manish Pandey score a brilliant 60 not out off 45 balls with the help of four boundaries and a couple of sixers to propel his team to a challenging score. Pandey was ably supported by Rohan Kadam, who made 35 off 28 balls, as the duo added 65 runs in quick time for the fourth wicket.
KL Rahul and Devdutt Padikkal also contributed to the team’s cause with 22 and 32 runs, respectively. Spinners took five wickets for Tamil Nadu, with Murugan Ashwin and Ravichandran Ashwin bagging two each and Washington Sundar one.
In reply, Tamil Nadu had a poor start with Shreyas Gopal getting rid of opener Hari Nishanth for 14 in the 3rd over.
Washington Sundar (24) and Dinesh Karthik (20) then steadied the innings but both failed to make it big. It was then up to the pair of Baba Aparajith and Vijay Shankar to take the team as close to the target as possible, and they both did that with a 71-run partnership for the fifth wicket.
Shankar scored 44 off 27 balls while Aparajith scored a quickfire 25-ball 40 before falling to More in the 18th over.
As 13 runs were needed in the final over, Tamil Nadu started in style with Ashwin scoring two fours in succession off the first two balls from Krishnappa Gowtham. But the off-spinner came back strongly in his next four deliveries and Shankar got run out off the penultimate ball. Three runs were required off the final ball, which Murugan Ashwin faced and failed to connect, only managing to take a single off a leg-bye as Karnataka players began their celebrations.
Karnataka had also won the Vijay Hazare Trophy this year, and with this title, it became the first team in history to win both the prestigious tournaments in the same season.
