TN scrape past Punjab to lift inaugural Mushtaq Ali trophy

Mumbai, Apr 21 (UNI) Tamil Nadu scrapped past Punjab by two wickets and two balls to spare in a thrilling final of the inaugural All India Inter-State Twenty20 championship for the Mushtaq Ali Trophy at the Brabourne stadium here this evening.

Set a target of 135 to win, Tamil Nadu made 135 for eight, with just two balls to spare.

Tamil Nadu, after restricting the powerful Punjab batting line-up for just 134 for eight in their 20 overs, were given a flying start from their openers Anirudh Srikkanth and D Devendra, with the latter being particulary severe on India bowler V R V Singh.

Singh, bowling the second over of the innings, was despatched to all parts of the ground by Devendra, who hit three consecutive boundaries. In the next over of Singh, Devendra hit a huge six to launch an all-out assault on the Punjab bowlers.

Singh however got his revenge when Devendra tried to pull too early and managed to sky the ball to Vipul Sharma at midwicket.

Devendra made 24 of just 12 balls with four hits to a fence and one over it, with Tamil Nadu on 42 for one in just the fourth over.

Punjab, however, kept going at the Tamil Nadu batsmen and managed to pull the match back, with Karan Goel the offspinner playing a major part. He picked up four wickets for just 13 runs in three overs.

Bowling the penultimate over, with Tamil Nadu placed in a good position at the 119 for five needing just 16, Goel bowled a dream over getting three wickets in the over for just 6 runs as Tamil Nadu slumped to 125 for eight, needing 10 runs of the last over.

After Shiv Kumar had taken a single of the last over from Yuvraj Singh, Yo Mahesh smashed a huge six of the next ball and then ran two to equal the score before scamparing through a single to give Tamil Nadu their first silverware of the season.

Earlier, batting first on winning the toss, Ravneet Ricky and Karan Goel gave them a good start putting on 43 in six overs with the former making 24 in 22 balls with three hits to the fence, while Goel scoring a whirlwind 19 of 26 balls, with two boundaries and a six.

However, Tamil Nadu's slow bowlers applied the pressure, with R Prasanna giving away just 12 runs in his four overs and picking up the important wickets of Dinesh Mongia and Karan Goel.

A couple of run outs also did not do any good for Punjab's cause before Vipul Sharma made a 16 ball 19 to take them to 134 for eight.

Brief scores: Punjab 134 for eight in 20 overs (R Ricky 24, Karan Goel 26, R Prasanna 2-12, C Ganapathy 2-34) lost to Tamil Nadu 135 for eight in 19.4 overs (D Devendra 24, S Vidyut 27, Karan Goel 4-4, VRV Singh 2-32) by two wickets.

UNI