TN routs Baroda to clinch T20 Mustaq Ali Trophy
Siddharth takes four wickets as Karthik’s side bags Mushtaq Ali Trophy
CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu clinched its second Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 tournament with an emphatic seven-wicket rout of Baroda in the final at Motera in Ahmedabad on Sunday.
Such was Tamil Nadu’s dominance that it remained unbeaten throughout the course of the tournament despite missing quite a few of its star players. Setting off in pursuit of a modest target of 121, Tamil Nadu reached home with two overs to spare.
Tamil Nadu got off to a confident start before the inform Narayan Jagadeesan fell for 14 with the score on 26 in the fourth over. His opening partner C Hari Nishaanth and one-drop Baba Aparajith carried on serenely by rotating the strike and avoiding risks.
At the halfway stage, Tamil Nadu was 61 for one. Just when Hari Nishaanth was looking good, he perished for a well-made 35 (38b, 3x4, 1x6) in the 12th over. In walked skipper Dinesh Karthik and he struck three boundaries in quick succession to keep the required rate under control.
At the other end, Aparajith was content taking singles and giving much of the strike to Karthik. Having scored a stroke-filled 22 (16b, 3x4), Karthik fell to medium pacer Atit Sheth with his team on the verge of victory.
It was left to the burly M Shahrukh Khan and Aparajith to guide Tamil Nadu to a memorable win, with the former scoring a quick-fire 18 not out off seven balls with two fours and a six. The 26-year-old Aparajith remained unbeaten on 29 (35b, 1x4).
Earlier, Tamil Nadu leftarm spinner Manimaran Siddharth, playing his first game of the tournament, spun a web around the Baroda team, taking an impressive four for 20 to break the spine of its batting and restrict it to 120 for nine. At one stage, Baroda was tottering at 36 for six in the ninth over before it found a saviour in Vishnu Solanki, who struck 49 (55b, 1x4, 2x6) to give a semblance of respect to the team’s total.
Together with Atit Sheth, who made a useful 29 (30b, 2x4, 1x6), Solanki added 58 runs for the seventh wicket. Solanki was the eighth wicket to fall off the penultimate ball when he was run out with one shy of a deserved half-century. Tamil Nadu’s other leftarm spinner, the lanky R Sai Kishore, bowled economically to give away only 11 runs.
BRIEF SCORES: Baroda 120 for 9 in 20 overs (V Solanki 49, M Siddharth 4/20) lost to Tamil Nadu 123 for 3 in 18 overs (C Hari Nishanth 35, B Aparajith 29*)