TN loses by a solitary run to Karnataka in Syed Mushtaq Ali trophy 2019

At Adelaide, after that devastation by David Warner, Pakistan ended the third day needing 248 more runs simply to avoid an innings defeat, with the scorecard reading 3 for 39. However, they arguably won the day, and unarguably enjoyed their best one all tour as Yasir Shah produced one of the more unexpected Test centuries.  At Hamilton, England trail by 106 runs with 5 wickets remaining in the innings ~ this is a post on Cricket but not on those tests!

The Tapti River flows in Central India between the Godavari and Narmada rivers. It flows westwards over a length of 724 km (449.9 mi) before draining through the Gulf of Khambhat into the Arabian Sea. It flows through Surat, an acclaimed diamond centre in Gujarat.   Surat according to legend was founded by a Brahmin named Gopi, who named the area Surajpur or Suryapur. In the 12th and 15th centuries, Surat was plundered by Muslims.  In 1512, and again in 1530, Surat was ravaged by the Portuguese Empire. In 1514, the Portuguese traveler Duarte Barbosa described Surat as an important seaport, frequented by many ships from Malabar and various parts of the world.

At Surat, at  Lalbhai Contractor Stadium was the finals of Syed Mushtaq Ali trophy 2019. The stadium is owned by the Surat District Cricket Association (SDCA). The ground hosted international cricket for the first time during South Africa Women's 2019 tour of India. All five WT20Is of the tour were played at the Lalbhai Contractor Stadium. This stadium was made possible by the huge  donation of 86,730 Sq. yards of land by Kanaiyabhai and Hemantbhai together with their sister Jyotiben in memory of their father Late Shri Lalbhai Ramjibhai Contractor.

It was the last over 13 required – bowler spinner Krishnappa Gowtham.  Ravichandran Ashwin on strike – first ball hit hard and straight for 4; 2^nd hoisted to midwicket, Padikkal charges in, done in by the bounce and turn, could neither catch nor stop, another 4; dot ball, 1, Vijay Shankar on strike – hits it hard to long-on, turns and runs hard for the second -  Manish Pandey and his rocket arm fire it towards the keeper, KL Rahul collects clean and breaks the stumps outsmarting diving Vijay Shankar. Off the last ball, Murugan Ashwin could not connect runs a single when 3 required for a win !

From the Super League, Haryana, Karnataka, Rajasthan, and Tamil Nadu had advanced to the semi-finals. In the first semi-final, between Haryana and Karnataka, Abhimanyu Mithun took five wickets in one over for Karnataka, including a hat-trick. Karnataka won the match by eight wickets to advance to the final. In the other semi-final, Tamil Nadu beat Rajasthan by seven wickets.   In the final, Karnataka beat Tamil Nadu by one run to defend their title.  Yes, it is Karnataka again.

The Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy  is a Twenty20 cricket domestic championship in India, organized by Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), among the teams from Ranji Trophy. The 2008-09 season was the inaugural season for this trophy.  The most famous was Ranji Trophy, then Duleep and later Deodhar.  Remember in 1980-81 Deodhar match at Chepauk, Thirumalai Echampadi Srinivasan shred to pieces West bowling scoring a masterly 129 outclassing Krish Srikkanth, and eventually getting selected for that tour of Australia – Newzealand.    Then there was the KS Subbaiah Pillai trophy – the One day tournament between State sides.   Later it was  Vijay Hazare Trophy finals !  ~ in Oct 2019, TN lost the finals to Karnataka.

Syed Mushtaq Ali  was a right-handed opening batsman who scored the first overseas Test century by an Indian player when he scored 112 against England at Old Trafford in 1936.  He batted right-handed and bowled  slow left arm orthodox spin.   Karnataka had a potentially explosive batting line up but TN bowlers bowled it tight.  The fall of wickets read: 39-1 (Lokesh Rahul, 4.2), 39-2 (Mayank Agarwal, 4.3), 87-3 (Devdutt Padikkal, 9.5), 152-4 (Rohan Kadam, 17.3), 180-5 (Karun Nair, 19.6)  .. Rahul and Mayank dismissed in consecutive deliveries by Ravi Ashwin.  Manish Pandey made 60 setting a target of 181.

There were so many spin bowlers other than Natarajan.  Ravichandran Ashwin opened the bowling; then there was Washington Sundar, Murugan Ashwin, Sai Kishore, M Siddharth – besides Vijay Shankar too bowled. TN opened with Shahrukh Khan and Hari Nishanth.  Washington came next, followed by Dinesh Karthik.  Baba Aparajith and Vijay Shankar upped the ante and brought TN closer but in the end, TN lost by a solitary win !! – heart-breaking for TN fans.

A great game though!

With regards – S. Sampathkumar

1^st Dec 2019.