Shankar's men turn fortunes around in last four overs as Karnataka self-destruct
With Shahrukh Khan on strike, five runs and one ball separated Tamil Nadu from retaining the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 Trophy on Monday. Karnataka continuously pulled off great escapes throughout the tournament and Manish Pandey would have hoped for another. Prateek Jain bowled a fuller delivery and Shahrukh (33 n.o; 15b; 1x4; 3x6) sent it over deep square leg for a maximum, sealing a last-ball win for the defending champions. The high-intensity scenario was similar to the 2019 finale, in which Karnataka had scored a one-run victory.
Although both teams were scrappy in parts, they played out a thriller befitting a title clash. Chasing Karnataka's 151/7 in New Delhi, Tamil Nadu finished at 153/6 for a deserving four-wicket victory. This was the first loss in a white-ball tournament final in five appearances for Karnataka, who were without at least four of their regular players.
Throughout, it was a seesaw battle for the upper hand and in that sense, Karnataka did well in most parts. However, they allowed the match to slip away at a crucial juncture. It also didn't help their cause that with TN needing eight runs off two balls, a contentious wide call went against them.
Karnataka had the match in their pocket until some costly blips crept in. In 17th over MB Darshan conceded 19 runs to bring the equation down to 36 off 18 balls. In the 19th over, wicketkeeper BR Sharath failed to stop a yorker from Vidhyadhar Patil and allowed four byes. The former champions were also sloppy in the field with Sharath and Darshan putting down Vijay Shankar and Jagadeesan respectively.
Apart from Shahrukh, TN's hero of the day was spinner R Sai Kishore, who returned game- changing figures of 3 for 12.
Asked to bat, Karnataka's top order fell to the guile of left-arm spin duo of Sai Kishore and Sanjay Yadav. Rohan Kadam (0), Pandey (13) and Karun Nair (18) were back in the dugout in Powerplay, leaving Karnataka at 32 for 3. It took some sensible batting from the in-form Abhinav Manohar (46, 37b, 4x4, 2x6) and Pravin Dubey (33, 25b, 3x4, 1x6) to take Karnataka to 151.
In reply, Tamil Nadu began well, but Hari Nishaanth, after a sparkling start, was run out in the fourth over. With the pacers proving ineffective, Pandey brought Karun into the attack in the eighth over and that yielded result with Sai Sudharsan being adjudged leg-before.
From here on Karnataka bowlers held sway. With Jagadeesan (41) and Vijay Shankar (18) withdrawing into a shell, boundaries dried up and Tamil Nadu went without a hit to the fence for 50 balls before Jagadeesan broke the spell off the last ball of the 13th over. Spinner KC Cariappa (2/23) put the pressure back on the opposition, seeing off both the batsmen off consecutive balls. Shankar skied to Suchith and long-off and Jagadeesan mirrored his skipper to head back.
With his team struggling at 95 for 4 and an asking rate of a touch above 12 runs an over, Shahrukh took over the proceedings in the 16th over. In hindsight, Pandey could have utilised Dubey, who conceded four runs in an over, or Karun who had figures of 1 for 2 in an over. But the skipper reposed faith in his pacers and the move backfired.
SCOREBOARD
Karnataka: Rohan Kadam b Sai Kishore 0, Manish Pandey b Sai Kishore 13, Karun Nair b Sanjay 18, BR Sharath c Sudarsan b Sai Kishore 16, Abhinav Manohar c Mohammed b Warrier 46, Pravin Dubey c Siddharth b Natarajan 33, J Suchith (run out) 18. MB Darshan (not out) 0. Extras (W-6, LB-1) 7. Total (for 7 wkts; 20 overs) 151
Fall of wickets: 1-9, 2-32, 3-32, 4-87, 5-108, 6-149, 7-151
Bowling: Sandeep Warrier 4-0-34-1, R Sai Kishore 4-0-12-3, Sanjay Yadav 4-0-32-1, M Ashwin 4-0-28-0, T Natarajan 4-0-44-1
Tamil Nadu: Hari Nishaanth (run out) 23, N Jagadeesan c Suchith b Cariappa 41, Sai Sudharsan lbw Karun 9, Vijay Shankar c Suchith b Cariappa 18, Sanjay c Abhinav b Prateek 5, Shahrukh Khan (not out) 33, Mohammed c Pandey b Patil 5, Sai Kishore (not out) 6. Extras (W-7, B-4, LB-2) 13. Total (for 6 wkts; 20 overs) 153
Fall of wickets: 1-29, 2-51, 3-95, 4-95, 5-116, 6-130
Bowling: J Suchith 4-0-33-0, KC Cariappa 4-0-23-2, Prateek Jain 4-0-34-1, Vidhyadhar Patil 3-0-21-1, MB Darshan 3-0-30-0, Karun Nair 1-0-2-1, Pravin Dubey 1-0-4-0
