Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy | Late drama: Baroda edges Tamil Nadu in last-ball thriller to bag famous win

CHENNAI: With four runs needed off the final delivery of the match, Raj Limbani had one job: to swing his bat as best as he could. And that’s exactly what he did. He flicked M Mohammed’s last ball over third man, helping Baroda pull off a historic chase in Indore on Wednesday.

Baroda successfully chased down Tamil Nadu’s 222-run target in 20 overs, entering the record books as the second-highest successful chase in the history of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy.

Baroda did not have the strongest start when they came out to bat, with their top order falling, each for under 30 runs. By the 10th over, Baroda found themselves at 83/3, with Bhanu Pania (42) and captain Krunal Pandya (22) at the crease. Bhanu scored some crucial runs before an excellent spell from Sai Kishore (4-23-2) dismissed both set batters.

At the 15-over mark, Baroda were 150/5 and needed 72 from 30 balls. When it seemed like everything was going Tamil Nadu’s way, Hardik Pandya (69) made the difference. Vijay Shankar (42*), who had a brilliant evening with the bat earlier after reaching 1000 runs in T20 matches, was made to work in the penultimate over. Hardik flicked a ball off slip to the boundary before smashing a six over deep extra cover, setting the stage for a grand finish. However, Vijay redeemed himself in the final over with a brilliant throw from mid-wicket to run out Hardik.

With four runs needed off the final ball, Limbani flicked one off Mohammed to seal a famous victory for Baroda.

Earlier in the day, N Jagadeesan (57) scored back-to-back half-centuries for Tamil Nadu in the tournament.

Brief Scores: Tamil Nadu 221/6 in 20 overs (N Jagadeesan 57, Vijay Shankar 42*, L Meriwala 3/41) lost to Baroda 222/7 in 20 overs (Bhanu Pania 42, Hardik Pandya 69, Varun Chakaravarthy 3/43)