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Monday, Apr 23, 2007
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Tamil Nadu triumphs

Special Correspondent

MUMBAI: Yomahesh (nine runs, three balls) lashed a six off Yuvraj Singh to help Tamil Nadu chase down the 135 target set by Punjab in the Twenty20 All India Championship final for the Mushtaq Ali Trophy at the Brabourne Stadium on Saturday.

Tamil Nadu won by two wickets with two balls to spare in the inaugural tournament organised by the BCCI.

Tamil Nadu, chasing 135, raised 89 for three by the 11th over with S. Anirudh (19 off 16 balls), V. Devendran (24 off 12) and free-stroking S. Vidyut (27 off 28) coming good.

Karan Goel created a flutter with three wickets off his third over, Punjab's 19th. Dinesh Mongia and Harbhajan Singh made the batsmen sweat with tight bowling, supported by Vipul Sharma's excellent anticipation and catching.

M. Vijay chipped in with a timely 18 off 19 balls, running singles hard to keep the team within striking distance for Yo Mahesh to complete the kill.

Earlier, Tamil Nadu buzzed in the field as usual to restrict the batting-heavy Punjab to a modest 134.

Breezy start

Openers Ravneet Ricky and Karan Goel got cracking to rattle up 43 in 36 balls for the first wicket. The Punjab innings went into a tailspin after Ricky chopped a ball onto his stumps, followed by two shocking run-outs, both involving Yuvraj. He sent back Dharmani, but Vijay broke the stumps and then the India left-hander called Harbhajan for a run and found himself short of the crease.

C. Ganapathy stepped in to twist the knife further via two catches and two wickets (4-0-34-2). Vipul Sharma (19 off 16) and Uniyal (14 off 17) kept the scoreboard ticking, taking Punjab out of the trouble zone at 80 for five with seven overs left.

Sunil Gavaskar was the chief guest at the presentation ceremony and spoke about the late Mushtaq Ali's role in infusing excitement into cricket. "Twenty20 would have been right up his street," said the former India captain about the India great honoured with the C.K. Nayudu Lifetime Achievement award by the Board.

The scores: Punjab 134 for eight in 20 overs (Ravneet Ricky 24, Karan Goel 26, Vipul Sharma 19, C. Ganapathy two for 34, S. Prasanna two for 12) lost to Tamil Nadu 135 for eight in 19.4 overs (V. Devendran 24, S. Vidyut 27, V.R.V. Singh two for 32, Karan Goel four for 13).

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