Battle of South: Karnataka, TN set up summit clash

By Express News Service

BENGALURU: Even before a single ball was bowled in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka were billed as strong contenders for the title, and they have not disappointed. The defending champions came up with a dominating eight-wicket win over Hyderabad in the semifinals at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi on Saturday.  Few hours later, Manish Pandey and his men also edged past Vidarbha by four runs to set up a repeat of the 2019 final between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. It is scheduled for Monday. 

There were two primary architects in the victory for both the teams. If Saravana Kumar starred with a five-wicket haul for Tamil Nadu, Rohan Kadam scored a 56-ball 87 to bag the limelight for Karnataka. In fact, Tamil Nadu did not even give any sniff of a chance to Hyderabad, who were bowled out for 90. Kumar (5/21) was quite sensational in such a big game as he troubled his opponents throughout. Hyderabad were reduced to 26/4 and they never recovered with the pacer taking all those wickets. 

He took his fifth wicket in his final over when he sent back Tanay Thyagarajan, who was the lone player to enter double digits. Extras was the second highest at 11 for Hyderabad. What made Kumar’s performance standout is the fact that it was just the third game of his career. Also, he bowled two maiden overs. Though Tamil Nadu were 16/2 during the case, Sai Sudarshan and skipper Vijay Shankar steadied the ship to reach the target in the 15th over. If Shankar and co had it easy, Karnataka were tested by Vidarbha.

Batting first, Kadam and Manish Pandey were involved in a 132-run stand with the former hitting eight fours in the powerplay, which gave him further confidence to play an aggressor’s role. Hence Pandey, to some extent, played second fiddle and got into the act gradually with some lusty blows. With ten wickets in hand, they shifted gears from the 13th over.

In the next few overs, the left-hander managed to hit three sixes and inched closer to the magical three-figure mark. Unfortunately, while trying to up the ante, Kadam was dismissed for a 56-ball 87. Pandey was dismissed for 54. Though Abninav Manohar flourished with a 13-ball 27, Darshan Nalkanda took four wickets in the final over to restrict Karnataka to 176/7.

In reply, Atharva Taide gave Vidarbha a flying start with a 16-ball 32 and were 43/1 in the first five overs. However, the problem for Vidarbha was the loss of wickets at regular intervals.

Syed Mushtaq Ali

Brief scores 
Hyderabad 90 in 18.3 ovs (Tanay 25, Saravana 5/21, Ashwin 2/13, Mohammed 2/12) lost to Tamil Nadu 92/2 in 14.2 ovs (Sudharsan 34 n.o, Vijay 43 n.o, Readdi 2/23). Karnataka 176/7 in 20 ovs (Kadam 87, Pandey 54, Manohar 27, Nalkande 4/28, Lalit 2/36) bt Vidarbha 172/6 in 20 ovs (Taide 32, Satish 31, Wankhade 27 n.o, Cariappa 2/27).