Come Monday at the Arun Jaitley stadium, Tamil Nadu will be aiming to exact revenge for their 2019 final loss and defend their title while Karnataka would be hoping to win a third SMA title. And for that to happen, their opener Rohan Kadam, would need to come up with another big knock, like the one he played in the semi-final against Vidarbha. He and skipper Manish Pandey would be hoping to tame the strong and varied Tamil Nadu attack and give the side a flying start. The team would also be hoping that their middle-order clicks, as inconsistency has been an issue. Karun Nair has not been among the runs and he would like to make his presence felt. The likes of in-form Abhinav Manohar, Aniruddha Joshi and BR Sharath will need to support the top order.
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Shahrukh Khan wins the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 trophy for Tamil Nadu by hitting a six on the final ball. What a thrilling finish!
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Vidyadhar Patil takes Mohammed out. TN are 136/6 after 19 overs.
Shahrukh Khan is fired up. He is the man that stands between Karnataka and the Sted Mushtaq Ali Trophy. First, Shahrukh gets a boundary as keeper Sharath misses the ball. Shahrukh ends the over with a beautiful six.
WICKET! Sanjay Yadav is dismissed for 5. This is a crucial wicket for Karnataka. Shahrukh Khan crosses over and takes strike. Tamil Nadu need 35 off 17 with 5W. M Mohammed comes to the crease. TN are 122/5 after 18 overs.
Shahrukh Khan already looking good at the crease, goes for a six. He gets support from Sanjay, who brings up two boundaries as the two combine to make 15 runs in one over. TN are 116/4 after 17 overs.
Cariappa dismissed two settled batters Vijay Shankar and Jagadeesan in successive balls. With captain Vijay Shankar gone, Karnataka are in driver's seat. Karnataka spinners have been impressive in the final. Tamil Nadu did not hit a boundary for around 50 balls during the middle overs. That might decide the match outcome. Sanjay Yadav and Shahrukh Khan come to the crease. TN are 97/4 after 16 overs.
Shankar attempts to drag Suchith dellivery with a sweep from outside off, gets a thick under-edge to the keeper who drops it! TN are 81/2 after 13 overs.
Tamil Nadu are at 60/2 after 10 overs and need 92 in the next 10 - VJS & Jaggi have not looked convincing. Karnataka, on the other hand, displaying decent spells of bowling so far.
OUT! Crucial wicket from Karun Nair, who continues to impress with ball. Nair traps Sai Sudharsan for 9. TN are 52/2 after 8 overs. A few wickets more and Tamil Nadu will start gasping. On the contrary, a 50-run partnership and it should be an easy finish for the defending champions. Captain Vijay Shankar comes to the crease in place of Sudharsan.
A fabulous start by Nishanth but it ends with a run out on 23. Early breakthrough for Karnataka as Nishanth falls short while trying a risky single. Sai Sudharsan comes to the crease in place of Nishanth. TN are 29/1 after 4 overs.
Hari Nishanth and N Jagadeesan start the chase for defending champions Tamil Nadu. J Suchith opens the attack. Opener Hari Nishanth gets a boundary and maximum to kickstart the chase. TN are 9/0 after 1 over, need to make 152 total to defend their title.
Karnataka ends their 1st Innings on 151 in the Final of SMAT. Good recovery from Manohar in the middle overs and an even better finish from Pravin Dubey and Suchith. Abhinav Manohar scored 46, Praveen scored 33. Sai Kishore picked 3 wickets.
Target for Tamil Nadu to win the title is 152.
Karnataka are 138/5 after 19 overs following late exploits from Praveen Dubey. Two boundaries and a maximum by Praveen helps Karnataka make 16 runs in the last minute.
Abhinav Manohar gone for a 37-ball 46. Massive wicket for TN by Warrier, but a top knock in what's only his debut season. Manohar has made some tough runs in the middle and end overs for Karnataka. Jagadeesha Suchith comes to the crease. KAR are 109/5 after 17 overs.
A superb catch from Sudharsan to send back Sharath on 16 as trouble continues for Karnataka.
R Sai Kishore ends a superb bowling spell with figures of 4-0-12-3. Includes the big wickets of Manish Pandey, Rohan Kadam and Sharath BR. One of the best bowling efforts in a tournament final.
KAR are 89/4 after 14 overs.
Manohar is taking the bowlers to cleaners. He manages to keep the runs coming, with a boundary here and a maximum there. Manohar and Sharath bring up 50-run partnership. KAR are 78/3 after 12 overs.
Though the experienced trinity of Rohan, Manish & Karun are back in pavilion, Sharath & Abhinav are building a good partnership - SaiK was menacing among TN bowlers - The dugouts are at vociferous best.
Karnataka settle down after losing their captain. Sharath and Abhinav Manohar, who replaced Manish at the crease, got a boundary each to earn their side 10 runs from the over. KAR are 47/3 after 8 overs.
Tamil Nadu is on top at the end of powerplay. Superb bowling from Sai Kishore and Sanjay Yadav and a good decision by captain Vijay Shankar to give Kishore three overs to play in the powerplay. All three of Karnataka's experienced batters Rohan Kadam, Manish Pandey and Karun Nair back to the dug out. KAR are 34/3 after 6 overs.
Karun Nair looked to sweep every single ball and got out missing one. Need a big innings from skipper Manish Pandey to pull Karnataka out of the woods. Tamil Nadu strikers are turning on the heat. Sharath comes to the crease. KAR are 32/2 after 5 overs.
OUT! An early breakthrough for Tamil Nadu with in-form opener Rohan Kadam out for a duck. Sai Kishore strikes in his first delivery. Karun Nair comes to the crease. KAR are 14/1 after 2 overs.
The final clash begins in Delhi. Rohan Kadam and Manish Pandey are at the crease. Warrier opened the attack. A strong start by Karnataka who fetch nine runs in the first over of the final, thanks to two boundaries by captain Manish. KAR are 9/0 after 1 over.
Manish Pandey: The toss does not matter. We have been put in before and have done well. We will try to put runs on the board and give our bowlers something to defend. I spoke to Sharath BR and he was not comfortable opening the batting, so as captain I took the ownership and decided to open. We have two changes.
Karnataka Playing XI: Rohan Kadam, Manish Pandey(c), Abhinav Manohar, Karun Nair, Sharath BR(w), Praveen Dubey, Jagadeesha Suchith, Darshan MB, Prateek Jain, KC Cariappa, Vidyadhar Patil
Vijay Shankar: We are going to bowl first. We have been chasing well and want to enjoy this game. We have been doing that consistently. We have Natarajan coming in for Saravana Kumar.
Tamil Nadu Playing XI: Hari Nishanth, N Jagadeesan(w), Sai Sudharsan, Vijay Shankar(c), Sanjay Yadav, Shahrukh Khan, M Mohammed, Murugan Ashwin, Ravisrinivasan Sai Kishore, Sandeep Warrier, T Natarajan
Tamil Nadu captain Vijay Shankar wins toss, opt to field first against Karnataka in the final.
Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy Final between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.
Karnataka will miss the experience and guile of K Gowtham (7 wickets) owing to his selection for the India 'A' team, the spin duo of KC Cariappa (10 wickets) and J Suchith (6 wkts) will be crucial to the team's prospects and their eight overs could have a bearing on the outcome. Tamil Nadu, on the other hand, have been in good form in the tournament. It has been a team performance thus far with different players contributing at various stages. Yet, a lot would depend on the start provided by the dynamic duo of N Jagadeesan (163 runs, 1 fifty) and C Hari Nishaanth (177) and how newbie B Sai Sudharsan (173 runs) can build on it.
Stay tuned for live score and updates of the match here.