Like the Vijay Hazare Trophy 2019/20 final, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu are set to meet another final in this season and that is in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2019/20. While Karnataka won that earlier final in that 50-over format, Tamil Nadu will try to take revenge in the upcoming final of the 20-over format on this Sunday (1st December).
On Friday (29th November), both teams won their respective semi-final matches in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2019/20. At first, Karnataka beat Haryana, and then, Tamil Nadu defeated Rajasthan.
Abhimanyu Mithun shined with five wickets in an over, KL Rahul and Devdutt Padikkal helped Karnataka to chase the big total very comfortably
After winning the toss, Karnataka decided to bowl first. Most of the Haryana top-order batsmen batted very well. Except for the final over of that innings, Haryana batsmen mostly dominated against the Karnataka bowlers.
Opener Chaitanya Bishnoi (55) and Himanshu Rana (61) played 50+ knocks in that innings. Meanwhile, another opener Harshal Patel (34) and Rahul Tewatia (32) also played 30+ knocks.
But in the final over of that innings, Abhimanyu Mithun snatched the entire limelight. While Haryana were batting on 192/3 in 19 overs, they finished that innings on 194/8 in 20 overs. Mithun not only took a hat-trick, but he also took wickets in four successive deliveries and ended with five wickets in that single over. Mithun finished that innings with the bowling figures of 4-0-39-5.
In reply, openers KL Rahul and Devdutt Padikkal managed a firing start and put the 125 runs partnership for the opening wicket. While Rahul scored 66 runs off 31 balls, Padikkal scored 87 runs off 42 balls. Mayank Agarwal remained not out on 30 runs off 14 balls and the captain Manish Pandey was batting on three runs. They chased down that target in 15 overs.
After the discipline bowling performances from the entire team, Ravichandran Ashwin and Washington Sundar’s batting helped Tamil Nadu to easily reach the final
Tamil Nadu captain Dinesh Karthik decided to field first after winning the toss. Rajasthan batting totally disappointed from the early of that innings. Captain Deepak Chahar, who played a match-winning unbeaten 55 runs in the last game against Delhi, opened that innings with Ankit Lamba but failed to provide a good start. Chahar scored just nine runs while Lamba was dismissed on 15 runs.
Apart from the opener Lamba, Rajesh Bishnoi (23), Ravi Bishnoi (22*) and Chandrapal Singh (15) were the only other batsmen to reach the double-digit scores in that innings. Finally, Rajasthan scored 112/9.
Most of the Tamil Nadu bowlers were in total control in that game. Only Vijay Shankar (2/13) managed to take more than one wicket in that entire game. Five other bowlers of this side also picked up one wicket each, including Washington Sundar (1/2) and Ravichandran Ashwin (1/7).
Chasing down that target, opener C Hari Nishanth lost his wicket in the first over without opening the team’s account. However, another opener Ravichandran Ashwin handled that early situation very well along with Washington Sundar. They put the 69 runs partnership for the second wicket. While Ashwin was dismissed on 31 runs off 33 balls, Sundar guided the team to the safe victory with his brilliant half-century.
Washington Sundar scored 54 not out off 46 balls as Tamil Nadu chase down that target in 17.5 overs after losing three wickets.