On this day in 2021: Shahrukh Khan’s last ball six helps TN win SMAT
Tamil Nadu and Karnataka are two giant teams when it comes to Syed Mushtaq Ali tournaments and they dominate the opposition with such ease. The two teams had a fantastic run in the 2021-22 season and Tamil Nadu clinched their second consecutive Syed Mushtaq Ali tournament victory in a humdinger of a game against Karnataka in the final of the season on this day (November 22) in 2021.
Tamil Nadu elected to field first after winning the toss and left-arm spinner Ravi Srinivasan Sai Kishore picked up openers Rohan Kadam and skipper Manish Pandey early. Karun Nair perished after a 14-ball 18 and partnerships between Sharath BR and Abhinav Manohar were crucial to getting things back in place for Karnataka.
Praveen Dubey played a valiant knock of 33 from 25 balls while Manohar’s 37-ball 46 provided the impetus to the innings. Jagadeesha Suchith’s valuable unbeaten seven-ball 18 helped Karnataka post a competitive total of 151 for 7 in their 20 overs. Sai Kishore was the pick of the bowlers with 3 for 12 in his four overs while Sanjay Yadav, T Natrajan and Sandeep Warrier picked up a wicket each.
In reply, Hari Nishaanth was quite an aggressive upfront, however, his short stay of 12-ball 23 came to an end in the fourth over. N Jagadeesan was happy to rotate the strike from one end while Sai Sudharsan, Vijay Shankar and Sanjay Yadav could not contribute much. However, Jagadeesan’s innings of 46-ball 41 wasn’t enough as the Karnataka bowlers strangled the Tamil Nadu batters in the final overs.
With the required rate creeping up, it needed a special knock from Shahrukh Khan to take Tamil Nadu home and he used his brute power to hit three sixes in his 15-ball 33. Sai Kishore’s boundary in his three balls also played a part as Tamil Nadu managed to bail out from a tough situation to take the trophy, thanks to the final ball six from Shahrukh Khan when the team required four to win. The celebrations were quite intense as Karnataka had won a close encounter in the final in the 2019-2020 season by just one run.
