Dominant Tamil Nadu reach SMAT final again

Tamil Nadu reached the final of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy for the second year in a row following a dominant performance over Rajasthan in the semifinal on Friday (January 29). While the bowlers set up the win with an excellent comeback at the death, experienced campaigner Arun Karthik was the star with the bat as he forged an unbeaten partnership of 89 alongside skipper Dinesh Karthik to guide TN to the final.

Rajasthan made a poor start with the bat after opting to bat first when Bharat Sharma fell for a four-ball duck in the opening over. Aditya Garhwal then struck a few boundaries to get Rajasthan going but just when he breaking free against Baba Aparajith, the batsman found the fielder at deep midwicket. Following his departure, skipper Ashok Menaria took charge as he rounded off the powerplay in fantastic fashion for Rajasthan by striking three fours and a six in a row.

Despite losing the openers, Rajasthan were well placed at 56/2 by the end of the powerplay. Menaria, usually a watchful batsman, went after the TN bowling attack as Rajasthan continued to score freely. Racing to 100 after just 11 overs, Rajasthan set themselves up for a score beyond 180 but TN then made a terrific comeback at the death.

Menaria, who had gone past fifty, was Sai Kishore's second wicket and Mahipal Lomror departed without making an impact in the very next over. Losing those two quick wickets, Rajasthan never managed to recover as TN applied the choke. In what turned out to be a disastrous finish, Rajasthan added only 24 runs to finish with 154/9. M Mohammed's final over saw them score only two runs while giving away three wickets.

Chasing 155, TN made a poor start with the bat losing two wickets in the space of seven deliveries to get dented early. By the end of the powerplay, TN had made only 35/2 and just when they appeared to get the chase back on track, Ravi Bishnoi made an instant impact in his first over by getting rid of N Jagadeesan. That's when Dinesh Karthik joined forces with Arun Karthik to once again resurrect TN.

When they needed 72 off 48, Arun Karthik first smashed a six and a four in an 15-run over which was quickly followed by Dinesh Karthik fetching three boundaries off Bishnoi. Rajasthan didn't help their cause as they missed some catches and run out opportunities to aid TN in their pursuit. Once he got past fifty, Arun Karthik continued to take on the mantle of being the aggressor as TN successfully managed to reach the final again.

Brief scores: Rajasthan 154/9 in 20 overs (Ashok Menaria 51, Arjit Gupta 45; M Mohammed 4-24, Sai Kishore 2-16) lost to Tamil Nadu 158/3 in 18.4 overs (Arun Karthik 89*; Tanveer-Ul-Haq 1-22) by 7 wickets