Mushtaq Ali tournament: Siddharth adds teeth to Tamil Nadu attack

Even the official broadcaster of the tournament, Star Sports, by mistake listed Siddharth as a specialist batter during his first game against Mumbai in the Super League phase. But what a move it has turned out to be!

Since the 21-year-old’s arrival, Tamil Nadu has been rolling over its opponents, with Siddharth foxing his adversaries from the word go. Skipper Dinesh Karthik has tossed the new ball to the Chepauk Super Gillies slow bowler in each of his three appearances so far and the latter has seamlessly got his side off to rollicking starts on all occasions.

Siddharth has registered first-class figures (4/16 against Mumbai, 3/9 against Punjab and 4/18 against Jharkhand), amounting to a terrific tally of 11 wickets. “After getting selected (in the squad), I just wanted to do well. I didn’t think about anything else. I have tried to keep things simple,” a reticent Siddharth told DT Next.

Siddharth and fellow left-arm orthodox bowler R Sai Kishore have spun a web around rival batsmen, making them dance to the duo’s tune. And, the former is relishing his partnership with the more experienced Sai Kishore. “We have had scalps at the beginning, putting pressure on the opposition. We both are making a lot of inroads, so it’s a good feeling.”

According to Siddharth, both venues in Surat – CB Patel International Cricket Stadium and Lalabhai Contractor Stadium – offer a lot of assistance to the slow bowlers. “The pitches are spin-friendly. That is why we have about four to five spinners in the playing eleven. It suits our team’s style of play,” added Siddharth.

After finishing top of Group B in the Super League stage, Tamil Nadu is set to lock horns with Group A runner-up Rajasthan in Surat on Friday. The southern state side had defeated Rajasthan by 39 runs in the first round in Thiruvananthapuram. Siddharth said the Karthik-led unit would keep playing the way it had done over the course of the event.

“We just want to do whatever we did in the previous games. We will have to stick to our plans and execute it well,” he remarked. Following his eye-catching exploits, Siddharth has been called up by Sunrisers Hyderabad for trials with less than a month to go for the Indian Premier League 2020 auction. “SRH got in touch with me. The selection will happen on December 3,” revealed Siddharth.

After weeks of pulsating contests, swashbuckling hitting, upsets, marquee encounters, damp squibs, and of-course a plethora of humdingers, we are finally down to the business end of the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 tournament. Tamil Nadu will take on Rajasthan in the first semi-final in Surat on Friday. The second semi-final will see Karnataka meeting Haryana.

Tamil Nadu has had an imperious tournament thus far. Barring its super-league defeat to Karnataka, Dinesh Karthik-led unit has swatted aside anyone that has come in its way by spinning a web around them courtesy its spinners.

It will now face Rajasthan, which has had a rather inconsistent campaign thus far. Rajasthan booked its place in the semifinals courtesy a nail-biting two-run win over Delhi thanks to Deepak Chahar’s swashbuckling knock of 55 off 42 balls; one that included seven sixes.

For Tamil Nadu, Washington Sundar’s batting has been a real revelation this season. The right-handed off-spinner has been in amazing hitting form and has racked up crucial contributions thus far in the tournament. He (193 runs at 48.25) along with proven performers in Dinesh Karthik (264 runs at 37.71), Baba Aparajith (111 runs) and Shahrukh Khan (116 runs) will be crucial to its fortunes.