What a finish. Karnataka have won a thriller, by one run! Can you believe it? Gowtham keeping his cool and Karnataka have successfully defended their title.
Ashwin hammers a four first ball! Nine off five balls. Make that two back-to-back boundaries. Dot ball. 5 off 3. He takes a single. 4 off 2 with Shankar on strike. Oh Vijay, he is caught short of his crease trying to go for a second. He departs for 44 off 27. TN needs 3 off 1 ball. M Ashwin on strike. R Ashwin has taken off his pads...
V Koushik to bowl the 19th. FOUR! Ashwin gets an inside edge to fine-leg for four. 20 off 10 now. Vijay Shankar carves one over covers for four to make it 15 off eight. He is playing a gem, is Shankar. Ashwin takes a single off the last ball. He will be on strike with Gowtham being asked to defend 13 off 6.
GONE! Twist in the tale? Aparajith goes for a big hit and holes out. Karnataka have an opening. Ravi Ashwin joins Vijay Shankar. More got the breakthrough. Good over. Five runs off the over. TN needs 25 off 12 balls.
Are the wheels coming off Karnataka's bowling? V Koushik gets welcomed into the attack with a maximum by Aparajith. 11 runs from the over. TN needs 30 off the last three.
Aparajith and Shankar have turned things around with this fifty run stand. The required rate is under 10. TN are way ahead of where Karnataka were at the same stage. It's TN's game to lose now. Last four overs, they have scored 44 runs. TN 140/4 after 16 Overs. TN needs 41 runs off 24 balls.
Suchith and Gopal keeping a lid on the scoring rate. Plenty riding on Shankar and Aparajith at the moment. Karnataka wouldn't mind the singles. TN searching for the big hits... Aparajith clobbered Suchith over deep mid-wicket for a six. They need more of those. 27 off the last three. TN 107/4 after 13 Overs. Tamil Nadu needs 74 runs in 42 balls.
Baba Aparajith, right handed bat, comes to the crease. Gowtham strikes. He removes Sundar to leave Tamil Nadu reeling. Two set batsmen leaving in quick succession. Vijay Shankar comes to the crease . TN 80/4 after 10 Overs.
Oh dear... Kadam drops Karthik in the deep. He does a good job of keeping the ball in play but makes an absolute mess of it. Full marks for the effort but Karthik gets a life. Four runs from that Koushik over. Jagadeesha Suchith comes into the attack. Karthik cuts away a short ball for four... width on offer and he makes the most of it. GONE! Stumped. Karthik is out stumped, throws away another start. Suchith with the breakthrough. TN 76/3 after 9 Overs.
Gowtham bowls the final over of the Powerplay. Seven from it in the end. TN 53/2 after 6 Overs. Gopal continues. SHOT! Karthik pulls a half-tracker away for four. He follows it up with yet another boundary; Gopal bowling too short at the moment. "TN 6 overs 53/2. key will be to keep wickets in hand. with dew settling in, it will be interesting how the bowlers cope with it," pings Dipak from the ground. TN 64/2 after 7 Overs.
Shreyas Gopal comes into the attack and picks up a wicket off his first ball. Khan holes out. Karnataka one top. Dinesh Karthik comes out to bat. Sundar ends the over with a cheeky four. TN 46/2 after 5 Overs.
Sundar walks out to the middle. Koushik to roll his arm. Khan goes up and over mid-wicket, gets a boundary against his name. SHOT! Sundar gets off the mark with a brilliant hit through deep extra cover for four. 11 from the over. TN 37/1 after 4 Overs. TN needs 144 to win.
More continues. Nishanth struggling to time the ball so far. Scratch that. He absolutely hammers this one straight down the ground for four. He gets another one; this time gets an inside edge for four more. And he holes out after hitting another four! More getting the breakthrough. TN 26/1 after 3 Overs.
Krishnappa Gowtham, right-arm off break, comes into the attack . Gowtham nearly gets his man. Khan gets a bottom edge that runs away for four. Khan looking for the mighty heaves here but not getting the timing right at all. Nishanth now survives a close call for lbw. Meanwhile, Khan gets one away for four. 11 from the over. TN 14/0 after 2 Overs.
Hari Nishanth and Shahrukh Khan begin the chase. Ronit More with the new ball. Very good over from More; ends with a close shave for Khan. Three from it. TN 3/0 after 1 Over.
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END OF INNINGS: Karun Nair holes out off the last ball but captain Manish Pandey finishes unbeaten on 60, taking Karnataka to 180 for five at the end of 20 overs. This final is beautifully set up. Can the Karnataka spinners strangle the Tamil Nadu batsmen, or will Tamil Nadu exploit the absence of Abhimanyu Mithun?
M Ashwin to bowl the final over. Nair begins with a six.
Natarajan into his final over. He has been simply superb tonight. Four singles off the first four balls. Brilliant given the circumstances. Nair finally gets one away for four. Eight from it. Karnataka 168/4 after 19 Overs.
GONE. The partnership has been broken. Kadam departs. Karun Nair comes to the crease and hits a boundary off his first ball. Eight runs from the over. Karnataka 160/4 after 18 Overs.
T Natarajan is back into the attack. Manish Pandey brings up his fifty. Terrific over from Natarajan. Six from it.
Vijay Shankar to roll his arm now. Kadam brings up the fifty stand with a glorious strike to sweeper cover for four. Make that two in two. What an innings this is turning out to be from Kadam. A hat-trick of fours. 14 runs from the over. Karnataka 146/3 with 24 legal deliveries left.
Siddharth returns into the attack with 36 balls left in the innings. Pandey collects a boundary to move into the fourties. Kadam now gets a boundary, to long-on. Make that two in two from Kadam. Karnataka getting a move on. 17 from that over. Karnataka 132/3 after 15 Overs.
M Siddharth comes into the attack. Seven runs from the over with Pandey collecting a four. Vijay Shankar has been brought into the attack. Seven runs from his first over. Karnataka 115/3 with six overs to go.
Sai Kishore into the attack. Five from the over: good start from the left-arm spinner. Sundar to bowl out. Seven from it. Karnataka goes past 100. Karnataka 101/3 after 12 Overs.
Sundar continues. Pandey has a swing and connects: another six for the Karnataka skipper. GONE! Padikkal has been cleaned up and Sundar picks up his first wicket. Padikkal's brilliant campaign comes to an end. Rohan Kadam joins Pandey. Nine from the over. Karnataka 89/3 after 10 Overs.
Sundar makes amends in his second over; just two from it. Murugan Ashwin comes into the attack now. Manish Pandey dances down the track and launches M Ashwin down the ground for a glorious six. He follows it up with yet another hit to the fence for four. 13 from the over. Karnataka 80/2 after 9 Overs.
Ashwin to bowl out. Padikkal collects yet another boundary. Eight from his final over. He finishes with two for 34. Karnataka 65/2 after 7 Overs.
Washington Sundar comes into the attack. SIX! Padikkal clears the ropes, but he is lucky to not have been out caught. Murugan Ashwin, near the fence, puts in a dive but to no avail. He follows it up with a way more convincing shot for four. Expensive start from Sundar. 13 from it. Karnataka 57/2 after the Powerplay .
SIX! Rahul joins Padikkal. He welcomes Ashwin with a six but holes out the very next ball. Big wicket. Rahul departs. Mayank Agarwal, right handed bat, comes to the crease. GONE! Another one. Two in two and Agarwal departs for a golden duck. He's on a hat-trick. Manish Pandey negotiates the hat-trick ball without much difficulty. 11 runs and two wickets from that over. Karnataka 44/0 after 5 Overs.
Natarajan continues. That was a very good over from the left-arm seamer until the last delivery. Absolutely tonks it over the ropes for six. Brilliant pick up shot. What a shot from Padikkal. ... a short ball pinged Padikkal on the helmet earlier but he is fine. KL Rahul, there, doing a concussion test. Karnataka 33/0 after 4 Overs.
Ashwin to continue. SHOT! Class from KL Rahul as he steps out and lifts Ashwin over mid-off for four. Eight from the over. Karnataka 22/0 after 3 Overs.
Natarajan to bowl the second over. Just a quick update: J Suchith is replacing Mithun in the XI tonight. Padikkal has a wild swing and misses. Good start from Natarajan so far. He finally errs in line... strays on the pads, goes wide and concedes five extras. Six from the over. Karnataka 14/0 after 2 Overs.
FOUR! Sumptuous shot from Rahul to get off the mark; short of length and he cuts it for four. Padikkal now opens his account with a single. Good start. 8 from it. Karnataka 8/0 after 1 Over.
KL Rahul and Devdutt Padikkal walk out to the middle. Dinesh Karthik leading his men into the field. Out come the umpires as well. We are all set for the finals of Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 2019-20. Ashwin with the new ball.
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TOSS UPDATE: Tamil Nadu has won the toss and elected to bowl.
PITCH REPORT: "Belter of a wicket... the kind of pitch I'll roll, put into my kit bag and take with me wherever I go," says Amol Muzumdar.
Abhimanyu Mithun, who picked five wickets in an over, sits out because of back spasm.
Karnataka (Playing XI): Devdutt Padikkal, Lokesh Rahul(w), Mayank Agarwal, Manish Pandey(c), Karun Nair, Rohan Kadam, Krishnappa Gowtham, Shreyas Gopal, V Koushik, Jagadeesha Suchith, Ronit More
Tamil Nadu (Playing XI): Hari Nishanth, Shahrukh Khan, Washington Sundar, Dinesh Karthik(w/c), Baba Aparajith, Ravichandran Ashwin, Vijay Shankar, M Siddharth, Murugan Ashwin, Ravisrinivasan Sai Kishore, T Natarajan
Karnataka's Devdutt Padikkal has 548 runs in 11 innings, with five half-centuries and a hundred, at a strike rate of 178.50.
Will he finish on the winning side tonight?
Here are the top 2 batsmen and bowlers for Karnataka
Batsmen
Devdutt Padikkal 548 runs (11 matches)
K.L. Rahul 291 runs (7 matches)
Bowlers
Shreyas Gopal 18 (11 matches)
Ronit More 11 (7 matches)
Here are the top 2 batsmen and bowlers for Tamil Nadu
Batting
Dinesh Karthik 291 runs (11 matches, 9 innings)
Washington Sundar 247 runs (9 matches, 8 innings)
Bowlers
R Sai Kishore 20 (11 matches)
T Natarajan 13 (10 matches)
FINAL PREVIEW BY DIPAK RAGAV
For the second time in two months, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka will face off in a final, this time for honours in the shortest format — the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy — at the Lalbhai Contractor Stadium on Sunday.
Karnataka, the defending champion, holds a considerable advantage going into the final after having beaten TN twice recently — in the Super League match last week and in the final of the Vijay Hazare Trophy one-day tournament last month. Both teams are coming into the final in good form, having lost only two games in this tournament so far. But the teams play totally different brands of cricket.
S/F REPORT | Clinical TN beats Rajasthan
Karnataka is powered by its batting firepower. Opener Devdutt Padikkal tops the run charts with 548 runs in 11 matches at an extraordinary 178; he is followed by the likes of K. L. Rahul and Manish Pandey. TN, on the other hand, has depended on its spinners to do the job with R. Sai Kishore leading the bowling column with 20 wickets. M. Siddharth, who has played only in four games, has been impressive with 12 scalps.
These traits showed in their respective semifinal victories. Karnataka chased down 195 in just 15 overs with Padikkal and Rahul thrashing Haryana bowlers, including those with international experiences like Yuzvendra Chahal, Amit Mishra and Jayant Yadav. In the second semifinal, TN restricted Rajasthan to just 112 even though the spinners were helped by medium-pacers; Vijay Shankar and Natarajan picked three wickets amongst them.
S/F REPORT | Mithun, openers steer Karnataka into final
Come Sunday, both teams will back their strengths and TN coach D. Vasu said it could well be the battle between his bowlers and Karnataka’s batsmen. “We are going to play to our strengths which is our bowling and spinners. Yes, we lost to them twice in recent times but in this format, it depends on what happens on that day and how we execute our plans,” said Vasu.
Opening worries for TN
While their strengths have got them here so far without much trouble, both teams have some weakness as well.
For Karnataka, the middle-order hasn’t been tested and the pacers have gone for runs while for TN, the opening spot continues to remain a worry and not settled. Ashwin was the fourth opener to be tried on Friday in the last one week.
Having lost to Karnataka twice this season already, TN would want to get one back and share honours in white-ball cricket before the two sides meet yet again in a week to kickstart the Ranji Trophy in Dindigul on December 9.
The match will be streamed live on Hotstar.
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