SMA Trophy 2021: Cricket fraternity reacts as Tamil Nadu wins Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 Trophy for the second time

TN has won both its SMA Trophy titles under captaincy of Dinesh Karthik 14 years apart.

The final of the 2020-21 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy was played between Tamil Nadu and Baroda at the Sardar Patel Stadium in Motera, Ahmedabad. Dinesh Karthik won the toss and put Baroda into bat first.

However, Baroda failed to capitalize on this opportunity and managed only 120/9 in 20 overs. Vishnu Solanki top-scored with 49, while Atit Sheth made 29 and captain Kedar Devdhar and Bhargav Bhatt too crossed the 10-run mark.

For Tamil Nadu, M Siddharth was wrecker-in-chief with 4/20, while Baba Aparajith, Sonu Yadav, and M Mohammed picked one wicket each.

Though Lukman Meriwala removed N Jagadeesan for 14, C Hari Nishanth (35) and Dinesh Karthik (22) continued to take the attack to Baroda bowlers, while Baba Aparajith (29*) anchored the other end.

It was Aparajith with Shahrukh Khan (18* in 7 balls), who took Tamil Nadu to the victory and made them Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy champions of the 2020-21 season.

Atit Sheth, Lukman Meriwala, and Babashafi Pathan were the three wicket-takers for Baroda.

Manimaran Siddharth was named the Player of the Match for his excellent bowling figures. This was Tamil Nadu’s second title win, with their first title win also coming in the captaincy of Dinesh Karthik in 2006/07.

The cricket fraternity was elated at Tamil Nadu’s title win and shared their pleasure on Twitter.

Here are the tweets: