Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy: Tamil Nadu’s Saravana Kumar and Vidarbha’s Darshan Nalkande were the stars of Syed Mushtaq Ali semifinals on Saturday. Saravana Kumar played a vital role in Tamil Nadu’s victory over Hyderabad with a five-wicket haul and restricted Hyderabad to just 90 runs. Vidarbha lost to Karnataka but Darshan Nalkande destroyed Karnataka’s middle-order with four wickets in four balls in the final over. Follow live updates of SMAT 2021 on InsideSport
Saravana Kumar scalped the wickets of Tanmay Agarwal, Pragnay Reddy, Tilak Verma, Himalaya Agarwal and Tanay Thyagarajan. He was crucial in giving early breakthroughs for Tamil Nadu by cleaning up the top order. The 31-year-old pacer picked four wickets in the powerplay. He ended up with 5-21 in his four overs that included two maiden overs.
Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy: TN’s Saravana Kumar bags fifer, Vidarbha’s Darshan Nalkande bags 4 wickets in 4 balls in two contrasting semifinals – Check out
Hyderabad’s batsmen struggled against the lethal bowling attack of Saravana Kumar as Tamil Nadu sealed wrapped them up for just 90 runs. The batsmen did enough to chase down the low total with eight wickets to spare to secure the final berth for a third consecutive season.
Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy: In the other semifinal of the day, Darshan Nalkande scripted history by becoming only the second Indian bowler after Abhimanyu Mithun in T20 cricket to scalp four wickets in four balls.
Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy: TN’s Saravana Kumar bags fifer, Vidarbha’s Darshan Nalkande bags 4 wickets in 4 balls in two contrasting semifinals – Check out
The 23-year-old bowler dismissed Aniruddha Joshi to get his first wicket of the match in the final over. However, he sharpened his bowling and scalped three wickets of BR Sharath, Jagadeesha Suchith and Abhinav Manohar in consecutive deliveries. In the final over, Darshan Nalkande conceded only one run and returned with 4/28 in four overs.
In international cricket, legendary Sri Lankan pace bowler Lasith Malinga achieved the historic feat twice in his career against South Africa and New Zealand. Ireland’s Curtis Campher became only the third bowler to do so in the T20 World Cup while Afghanistan’s Rashid Khan is the other bowler to achieve the feat. However, Darshan Nalkande effort went in vain as Vidarbha lost to Karnataka by four runs.
Saravana Kumar and Darshan Nalkande brilliant bowling came at the right time ahead of IPL Auction next month. IPL Auction for 2022 season is set to take place in January. Ahmedabad and Lucknow are two new IPL franchises inducted this year. It will be interesting to see if Saravana and Darshan can bag an IPL contract. Darshan Nalkande is currently the fifth-highest wicket-taker of SMAT 2021, scalping 13 wickets from 8 matches, while Saravana Kumar picked 7 wickets so far.
Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy: TN’s Saravana Kumar bags fifer, Vidarbha’s Darshan Nalkande bags 4 wickets in 4 balls in two contrasting semifinals – Check out
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