Arun Karthik’s unbeaten 89 off just 54 balls propelled Tamil Nadu to their second successive final of the T20 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy as they beat Rajasthan by seven wickets here on Friday.
An 89-run partnership between Karthik (9x4s, 3x6s) and captain Dinesh Karthik (26 off 17, 3x4s) for the fourth wicket helped Tamil Nadu chase down a target with eight balls to spare. Rajasthan scored 154 for nine wickets in 20 overs and Tamil Nadu overhauled the target and finished at 158 for three wickets in 18.4 overs.
TN opener Narayan Jagadeesan made 28 off as many balls before falling to Ravi Bishnoi. It was the only wicket that Bishnoi took in his four overs in which he conceded 32 runs.
Earlier, pacer M Mohammed took four wickets as Tamil Nadu restricted Rajasthan. Captain Ashok Menaria was Rajasthan’s highest scorer with 51 runs.
Brief scores: Rajasthan 154/9 wkts in 20 overs (Ashok Menaria 51, Arjit Gupta 45; M Mohammed 4/24) lost to Tamil Nadu 158/3 wkts in 18.4 overs (Arun Karthik 89 not out, Narayan Jagadeesan 28; Tanveer Ul-Haq 1/22) by seven wickets with eight balls remaining
