Syed Mushtaq Ali T20: Debutant Siddharth leads TN to convincing win

Making his debut for Tamil Nadu, left-arm spinner M. Siddharth took a four-wicket haul that set up the eventual seven-wicket win over Mumbai.

Tamil Nadu's M. Siddharth (in picture) took four for 16 to help his team restrict Mumbai to 121.

Left-arm spinner M. Siddharth starred on debut for Tamil Nadu with a brilliant four-wicket haul to set up an easy seven-wicket win over Mumbai in the Super League match of the Syed Mushtaq Ali tournament here on Friday.

Electing to field, Siddharth and fellow left-arm spinner R. Sai Kishore spun a web around the Mumbai batsmen picking seven wickets amongst them to restrict the opposition to just 121.

In reply, TN openers M. Shahrukh Khan and C. Hari Nishanth attacked right from the beginning to give TN a blazing start.  

Nishanth looked like he was given the license to go for his shots and took on the Mumbai bowlers especially the spinners Dhrumil Matkar, Siddhesh Lad and Shams Mulani with a swashbuckling unbeaten 73 (44b, 5x4, 6x6) to help his side make short work of the target in just 13.5 overs.

MATCH BLOG

For Mumbai, Mulani was the star performer of the day making a valiant 73 and picking all three TN wickets.

Put in to bat, Mumbai’s slide started from the first over when Sai Kishore struck with the second ball of the match for TN when Aditya Tare dragged himself outside the crease as he went for an expansive drive only to miss it and get stumped.

In the next over, the 21-year-old Siddharth then got into the act off his third ball with a tossed up delivery to remove the Mumbai Skipper Suryakumar Yadav bowled as he tried to give room and go inside out but completely missed it.

Then Prithvi Shaw and Shams Mulani came together for a good partnership as they went after the TN bowlers with a 42-run partnership for the third wicket with Shaw going after Washington Sundar in particular in the Powerplay, hitting him for three boundaries and a six in his first two overs.

Siddharth who came back for his second spell bowled Shaw with an arm-ball that surprised the batsman with the bounce. He then had Shreyas Iyer caught at long-off, getting a leading edge trying to go over the top before Siddhesh Lad offered a simple return catch off the last ball of his spell to finish with figures of 4/16.

Sai Kishore then picked up two wickets in the 13th over removing Shubham Ranjane bowled and Shivam Dube caught at long-on to reduce Mumbai to 78/7.

Amidst the carnage at the other end, Mulani looked untroubled as he punished the TN bowlers whenever they erred and made things happen with well time reverse sweeps in his knock of 73 (52b, 10x4, 1x6).