Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2019-20: Semifinals - Review

It is a repeat of the Vijay Hazare final as Tamil Nadu and Karnataka face off for the T20 title.

Published - 30 Nov 2019, 10:46 IST | Updated - 30 Nov 2019, 10:46 IST

3 Min Read

An action replay of the Vijay Hazare Trophy finale, once again it is the South-Indian derby in an Indian domestic final as Karnataka and Tamil Nadu prepare for a showdown in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy finale on Sunday. Both sides registered comfortable wins in their respective semifinal fixtures and the stage is all set for a monstrous tussle on the final day.

In the second game of the day, the pitch slowed down significantly and batting got pretty tough. Sai Kishore, the highest wicket-taker of the tournament, didn’t have the best of days but M Siddarth ended up picking some big wickets. Washington Sundar too joined the party as Tamil Nadu kept Rajasthan on the backfoot straight away.

Skipper Deepak Chahar’s move to promote himself as an opener failed and the middle-order barely put up a fight. Barring Rajesh Bishnoi and Ravi Bishnoi, no one got past the 20-run mark and an outstanding spell in the middle overs from Vijay Shankar didn’t help Rajasthan in their endeavor.

Eventually, Rajasthan put up 112 runs on the board, which never was going to be a task for Tamil Nadu. Ravi Ashwin and Washington Sundar stitched a 69-run stand for the second wicket and steadied the ship big time after Tamil Nadu lost their first wicket in the opening over. Sundar completed his half-century and saw the game off alongside Baba Aparajith.

Mithun, Padikkal and Rahul steer Karnataka to a terrific win

Chaitanya Bishnoi and Himanshu Rana registered half-centuries for Haryana batting first and it seemed like the script was going pretty well for them. Rahul Tewatia was batting on 32 with Haryana at 192 going into the final over and after that, they never had control on the game for a minute.

Abhimanyu Mithun, the man who picked up a hat-trick in the final of the Vijay Hazare Trophy, out-did himself and picked up 5 wickets in the final over, giving away just 2 runs (A wide and a single). Haryana posted 194 runs on the board and despite the target being pretty high, their bowlers never seemed to threaten Karnataka.

KL Rahul and Devdutt Padikkal exploded like a volcano and struck boundaries for fun. The duo added a staggering 125 runs for the opening wicket, which came to an end with KL Rahul getting dismissed for a 31-ball 66. Padikkal continued the onslaught alongside Mayank Agarwal and took the side home as they won the game with 8 wickets and a jaw-dropping 5 overs to spare.