The second quarter-final of the ongoing Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 Trophy 2020-21 saw Tamil Nadu take on Himachal Pradesh. Earlier in the day Punjab decimated defending champions Karnataka in the first QF to qualify for the semis.
Tamil Nadu captain Dinesh Karthik won the toss at the Sardar Patel Stadium in Motera, Ahmedabad, and decided to bowl first. His bowlers backed his decision as pacer Sonu Yadav (3/14) and Sandeep Warrier (2/32) kept a tight leash on the Himachal batsmen.
Abhimanyu Rana (28), Nitin Sharma (26), and captain Rishi Dhawan (35*) were the main scorers for Himachal as they conjured up 135/9 in 20 overs.
In reply, Himachal's Vaibhav Arora picked 3 cheap wickets for 30, that of Hari Nishanth (17), N Jagadeesan (7), and Arun Karthik (0).
Captain Dinesh Karthik fell for 2 runs, but Baba Aparajith (52*) and Shahrukh Khan (40*) added 75 unbeaten runs for the 6th wicket to take Tamil Nadu into the semi-finals, with five wickets in hand and 13 balls remaining.
BRIEF SCORES:
HP 135/9 (R DHAWAN 35*; S YADAV 3/14) lost to TN 141/5 (B APARAJITH 52*, V ARORA 3/20) by 5 wickets
Tamil Nadu advances to the semi-finals
