BENGALURU: Two out of two. Karnataka, who clinched the Vijay Hazare Trophy one-day tournament in October, continued their domestic supremacy by beating Tamil Nadu in a thrilling Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 Trophy final by one run in Surat on Sunday. It was Karnataka’s second straight T20 triumph as well.
Manish Pandey’s unbeaten half-century proved to be massive as his innings guided Karnataka to 180/5. The knock came at a good time for Pandey, who is getting married on Monday. Tamil Nadu fell just short needing 13 from the last over. They needed three from the last ball, but managed only one.
The target was going to be tricky for Tamil Nadu, as a title-decider comes with additional pressure. With the required run rate above nine per over, Tamil Nadu openers C Hari Nishaanth and Shahrukh Khan had to make the power play count.
Though Tamil Nadu scored well in the first six overs, the problem was wickets. They lost both openers by the time the total reached 53, putting pressure on Dinesh Karthik and Washington Sundar. The duo was going at a decent rate, but J Suchith and Krishnappa Gowtham dismissed them to put Karnataka back in control.
The required run rate climbed towards 10.5 when Baba Aparajith and Vijay Shankar were in the middle. They required 64 from 36, which became 30 from 22 after some boundaries. But Aparajith’s wicket in 18th over bowled by Ronit More made matters difficult. The pacer conceded just five in that over. Tamil Nadu were still in the hunt as they required 25 from 12, but couldn’t pull it off.
Earlier, Karnataka openers KL Rahul and Devdutt Padikkal produced another handy performance. Just when Rahul was looking dangerous, Ravichandran Ashwin dismissed him and got the wicket of Mayank Agarwal next ball. But that did not stop the in-form Padikkal (32) from scoring runs all around the wicket. Pandey initially did not look in his zone, scoring just seven from 12 balls. But after the departure of Padikkal, the skipper took charge.
Karnataka rebuilt through Pandey, who gradually got better, and Rohan Kadam. They realised the importance of not losing wickets in the middle overs. Pandey was collecting the occasional boundary, which kept the scoreboard ticking. Kadam changed gears around the 15th over and hit a flurry of boundaries before getting out for a well-made 35.
Brief scores: Karnataka 180/5 in 20 ovs (Pandey 60 n.o, Kadam 35, Padikkal 32; R Ashwin 2/34, M Ashwin 2/33) bt Tamil Nadu 179/6 in 20 ovs (Vijay Shankar 44, Aparajith 40; More 2/32).