Shahrukh Khan hit left-arm pacer Prateek Jain for an exhilarating last-ball six through the square leg region to take Tamil Nadu home in the final of the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 on November 22 against Karnataka. The promising young batter flicked Jain’s attempted yorker for a maximum when Tamil Nadu required 5 off 1 ball in Delhi.
So often we’ve seen such equations ending well for the bowling side, but in a rare instance, Shahrukh, who was standing deep inside the crease, got underneath the full-pitched ball near his pads from Prateek and took Tamil Nadu to their second consecutive SMAT title in Indian domestic cricket.
Shahrukh was the star of the show for his team, blazing an innings of 33 not out off just 15 deliveries, including three sixes. Walking into bat with Tamil Nadu needing a further 57 runs to win from the remaining 28 balls, the young gun owned the stage and played an innings that he will remember for quite some time.
Before Shahrukh arrived on the scene, the Tamil Nadu run-chase had not progressed all that swiftly. Hoping to inch past Karnataka’s modest score of 151/7, they had slipped to 95/4 in 15.2 overs. Tamil Nadu’s struggle for flow and consistency with the bat was summed up by a painstaking effort from their opener N Jagadeesan, whose knock of 41 came from 46 balls. Even skipper Vijay Shankar found it tough to get going through his 22-ball 18.
But their exceptional young power-hitter ensured he covered up for those chinks and did not allow Karnataka to widen the gap when they found an opening.
For most of the second half, Jain (1/34) had bowled well until he lost his radar in the final over, especially the last ball. KC Cariappa (2/23) was the pick of the bowlers for Karnataka. Even Vidyadhar Patil (1/21) bowled a tight spell.
Karnataka did a fine job with the ball of making their score look better than it was on what was a flat batting surface. But lack of extra 10-15 runs meant that they could never really take the game completely away from Tamil Nadu.
This is where their indifferent first half comes into focus. They had a stop and start kind of innings, especially the first half. Captain Manish Pandey (13), Karun Nair (18), Sharath BR (20) all took quite a few balls to get going and before any of them could push on the accelerator, they were dismissed.
This left Karnataka desperately needing someone to come and take the game back to Tamil Nadu. It is here that Abhinav Manohar (46) and Praveen Dubey (33) came to their rescue. Their crucial knocks, along with a cameo of 18* from 7 by Jagdeesha Suchith, helped the team make it past the 150-mark when things could easily have been worse.
Left-arm spinner Sai Kishore (3/12) was the pick of the bowlers for Tamil Nadu. His fellow spinner Murugan Ashwin (0/28) also bowled a tight spell. In the end, though, it was the tremendous knock from Shahrukh that made the massive difference, taking Tamil Nadu to only their third SMAT title in the tournament’s history.
Shahrukh’s knock and his match-winning six to finish the proceedings made everyone sit up and take notice of his ability and promise. The 26-year-old is certainly an exciting prospect for the Indian selectors to watch out for.
Brief scores
Karnataka 151/7 in 20 overs (Manohar 46, Dubey 33; Kishore 3/12) lost to Tamil Nadu 153/6 in 20 overs (N Jagadeesan 41, Khan 33*; KC Cariappa 2/23) by 4 wickets
