A dominant Tamil Nadu side maintained its unbeaten run in this year’s Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy as they overpowered Baroda by 7 wickets in the summit clash on Sunday at the Sardar Patel Stadium, Ahmedabad to clinch title for the second time. It was way back in 2006-07 season when Tamil Nadu won the trophy for the first time. Interestingly, both title triumphs came under Dinesh Karthik, 14 years apart.
Mr @JayShah, Honorary Secretary, BCCI, hands over the @Paytm #SyedMushtaqAliT20 Trophy to the Tamil Nadu skipper @DineshKarthik. 👏🏆 pic.twitter.com/drv5eGAldn
— BCCI Domestic (@BCCIdomestic) January 31, 2021
Chasing 121 on a turning track, Tamil Nadu openers Hari Nishanth and N Jagadeeshan put on 26 runs for the first wicket. Baroda finally ended the stand in the fourth over as Lukman Meriwala got rid of Jagadeeshan (14). Baba Aparajith and Nishanth then got together to forge a 41-run stand for the second wicket.
However, Baroda yet again clawed their way back as Babashafi Pathan dismissed Nishanth (35), reducing Tamil Nadu to 67/2 in the 12th over. Karthik and Aparajith then steadied the ship. The pair soon took control of the proceedings and crossed the 100-run mark in the 16th over. In the next over Baroda did get the crucial breakthrough of Karthik but Aparajith alongside Shahrukh Khan saw their team through to their target without any further hiccup and with 12 balls to spare.
Earlier in the game, Baroda recovered from 36 for 6 to to put up respectable 120 for 9 courtesy to the 58-run seventh wicket stand between Vishnu Solanki (49) combined with Atit Sheth (29). Tamil Nadu spinner M Siddharth, playing in his first match of the tournament, had spun a trap to take four wickets which rattled the opponent batting line-up.