Punjab and Karnataka played out the best match of Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 tournament as Punjab clinched a thrilling four-run win in the super over after both sides were inseparable in their allotted 20 overs at the JU second campus ground in Kolkata.
Punjab scored 15 runs in the super over with both Mandeep Singh (10) and Yuvraj Singh (5) remaining unbeaten.
Siddharth Kaul then bowled a superb last over despite bowling one no ball to held Karun Nair and Aniruddha to 11 runs.
Chasing a target of 159, Punjab captain Harbhajan Singh sprang in a surprise by promoting himself to No. 3. He blasted a 19-ball 33 that included one six and five fours to give Punjab a flying start.
Harbhajan’s attacking innings pushed Karnataka on the back foot and placed Punjab way ahead of the required rate. But the Punjab innings derailed after Harbhajan’s cameo.
Karnataka left-arm seamer Sreenath Arvind brought his side right back into the game by picking up the all important wicket of Mandeep Singh (45).
Vinay Kumar’s brilliance in the field then saw the back of Gurkeerat Singh Mann for a duck, in a matter of four balls the match swung towards Karnataka.
Coming in to bat at No.4, Yuvraj was looking to hold the innings together with Sharad Lamba for company. When things appeared to be settling in for Punjab, Aravind again dented the chase by getting Yurvaj (29) and Abhishek Gupta of successive deliveries.
At 129 for 6, the match appeared evenly poised. But the last 4 overs saw it dramatically shift balance from one to another before it all boiled down to Punjab needing 12 runs off the last over with 2 wickets in hand.
Sandeep Sharma hit a crucial boundary in the last over and then scampered through for 2 runs in the last ball to level the scores.
There was no shortage of drama earlier in the Karnataka innings either. They were reduced to 35 for 3 losing in-form batsmen Mayank Agarwal (6), Karun Nair (13) and K Gowtham (13) cheaply. Manpreet Gony appeared unplayable as Karnataka failed to score off him for 13 straight deliveries, losing the wickets of Agarwal and Karun. Gony returned wicth staggering figures of 2 for 8 in his four overs.
Baltej Singh’s medium pace further added to Karnataka’s woes as he removed the well settled CM Gautam for 39. Karnataka were reeling at 111 for 7 when off-spinner Aniruddha Joshi played a match-changing cameo of 40 off 19 deliveries including a six and six fours to propel Karnatak to 158 for 7. The eight wicket partnership between Aniruddha and captain Vinay Kumar added 47 runs off just 21 balls.