Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2021 Final: Defending champions Tamil Nadu and Karnataka advanced to the finals of Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2021. Tamil Nadu and Karnataka clinched their semi-final matches to advance to the final of the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 Trophy on Saturday. Tamil Nadu, led by Vijay Shankar, beat Hyderabad by eight wickets and Manish Pandey-led team Karnataka defeated Vidarbha by four runs to reach the finals.
In the first semi-final match played at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi, Tamil Nadu won the toss and elected to bowl and Hyderabad, who were undefeated in the tournament, were bundled out for just 90 runs in 18.3 overs. Tanay Thiagarajan could reach double digits for Hyderabad, who scored 25 runs. In reply, Tamil Nadu won the match at 92 for two in 14.2 overs on the back of captain Vijay Shankar (43 not out) and B Sai Sudarshan (34 not out) and entered the title match. For Tamil Nadu, Sarwan Kumar took five wickets for 21 runs, which is the second best bowling performance for Tamil Nadu. For Hyderabad, both the wickets were taken by Rakshasa Reddy.
At the same time, in the second semi-final match of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, Karnataka defeated Vidarbha by four runs in a close match. Vidarbha won the toss and invited Karnataka to bat first. Karnataka scored 176 for seven in 20 overs on the back of opener Rohan Kadam’s 87 and skipper Manish Pandey’s 54. Darshan Nalkande took the maximum four wickets for Vidarbha. Chasing the target, Vidarbha’s team could only manage 172 runs for six wickets in 20 overs. Atharva Tayde scored 32 runs for Vidarbha. Darshan Nalakande took four wickets in four consecutive balls, but he could not lead his team to victory.