Tamil Nadu’s Shahrukh Khan was the star of his team’s victory over Karnataka in the final of the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 Trophy as he hit a last-ball six to win the trophy for his team.
This was Tamil Nadu’s record third title and second consecutive title win, successfully defending their title. Playing a key role in his team's victory over Karnataka, Shahrukh used advice he had once received from the legendary MS Dhoni to pull off an MSD-esque run-chase in the final.
When Shahrukh came on the crease, Tamil Nadu was far from in control while chasing a target of 152 runs. As the task looked gigantic, Shahrukh recalled the advice from Dhoni and took the chase deep with the hope of things falling into place at some point in time.
“We needed around 50-55 (57 exactly) when I went out to bat. I just wanted to take a couple of balls’ time. I knew the fast bowlers had a few overs left. I knew the equation was a bit out of hand. I said that we will take it as deep as possible, whatever happens,” Shahrukh Khan told Sportskeeda.
Shahrukh recalled his talk with MS Dhoni and revealed that the former India captain had told him to trust himself and do what he feels right. Implementing the same ideas, the middle-order batsman scored a 15-ball 33* and emerged as the player of the match in the showdown for the title.
“MS [Dhoni] told me to trust myself. He told me that whatever I do is the right thing because only I know what is right. And, if anything wrong happens while playing the game my way, so be it,” Shahrukh revealed.
Coming to the end, Shahrukh backed himself to get 5 runs off the last ball to win the game, after taking a couple of runs off the penultimate delivery. He hit a six off the last ball and made Tamil Nadu domestic T20 champions.
Shahrukh had hogged the attention of fans during the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 season too, putting in some valuable performances for Punjab Kings during the course of the tournament. His SMAT heroics would arguably have gotten a few more franchises interested in his services.
