Sardar Patel Stadium in Ahmedabad is going to host this year’s final of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2021 on Sunday. Two unbeaten teams of the tournament, Tamil Nadu and Baroda will take on each other to offer a nail-biting final.
Preview
Tamil Nadu, led by Dinesh Karthik look steadier than ever and are set to grab their second title. They missed on becoming champions last year by just one run. This year they have been unbeaten so far in this tournament and have impressed throughout with their all-round performance. After beating Rajasthan in the semi-final by eight wickets, thanks to a stunning 89* from Arun Karthik Tamil Nadu booked their spot in the second consecutive final with just eight balls to spare. Tamil Nadu boast a strong batting line-up consisting of the highest run-scorer of the competition Narayan Jagadeesan.
The opener is going to play an important role and needs to give the side a good start if Tamil Nadu want to claim the title. Baba Aparajith is another key player while Dinesh Karthik, KB Arun Karthik, and Shahrukh Khan provide support in the second half of the innings. Of course, the team has continuity with bowling too and the bowlers will like to live up to the expectation in this most important fixture. R Sai Kishore along with Murugan Ashwin will have a major responsibility.
For Baroda, it turned out to be an exciting competition. They were not the favorites against Punjab in the semi-final. But they went on to beat the side by 25 runs to enter the final. Baroda’s quarter-final against Haryana was also a thrilling match that saw the side chasing 15 runs in the last three balls. Nobody expected Baroda to make it to the final after a much chaotic start. They missed important ones like Deepak Hooda, Krunal Pandya but never surrendered.
They have remained unbeaten throughout and won all of the matches of the competition so far. Now, as the team look for a fantastic climax, the bowlers are going to play a big role. Baroda have a fine bowling outfit excellent in giving important breakthroughs and maintaining the economy rate. Atit Sheth and Lukman Meriwala will try to make early impacts. The role of spinners is going to be vital too. Among the batters, the acting captain Kedar Devdhar has scored 333 runs so far and impressed all. There is Vishnu Solanki as well who won the quarter-final for Baroda.
While Tamil Nadu look more solid, Baroda have the momentum with them. Moreover, this is largely going to be a battle between Tamil Nadu batsmen and Baroda bowlers.
Predicted XIs
Tamil Nadu
Hari Nishanth, N Jagadeesan, Baba Aparajith, Arun Karthik, Dinesh Karthik (C&WK), Sonu Yadav, Shahrukh Khan, R Sai Kishore, M Mohammed, Murugan Ashwin, and Aswin Crist.
Baroda
Kedhar Devdhar (C), Smit Patel (WK), Vishnu Solanki, Ninad Rathva, Abhimanyu Rajput, Bhanu Pania, Atit Sheth, Babashafi Pathan, Lukman Meriwala, Bhargav Bhatt and Karthik Kakade.