Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 | Tamil Nadu breeze through to final with seven-wicket win

11/30/2019

Tamil Nadu eased their way through to the final of the 2019 edition of the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 tournament with a seven-wicket win over Rajasthan. After their seven-man bowling attack restricted Rajasthan to a mere 112 for nine, Tamil Nadu rode on Washington Sundar’s fifty to clinch victory.

In the end, it was not even a contest at the Lalabhai Contractor Stadium in Surat as the team from the south marched their way into a second successive domestic cup final in two months time.

Winning the toss, Tamil Nadu skipper Dinesh Karthik asked the opposition to bat. Rajasthan skipper Deepak Chahar promoted himself up the order to open the innings. Although he hit a six, the move didn’t pay off as well as hoped as none of the Rajasthan batsmen got going. With only four batsmen registering double-digit scores, Rajasthan huffed and puffed their way to a meagre 112. Except for Murugan Ashwin, all Tamil Nadu bowlers registered a wicket at least — Vijay Shankar with two for 13 from his four overs being the pick of the bunch.

In reply, Karthik returned the favour by promoting Ravichandran Ashwin up the order to open the chase. Although his partner Hari Nishanth fell for nought in the very first over, together with a clean-hitting Sundar, Ashwin put on a 69-run stand that virtually sealed the deal. Sundar’s 54 came in just 46 balls with three sixes and three fours. Karthik himself played a mini cameo of 17, while Baba Aparajith finished off proceedings with a streaky boundary.

The final on Sunday is a replay of the final of the Vijay Hazare Trophy last month when Karnataka took home the honours.