Zonal champions feel let down

Chennai: Karnataka edged out Tamil Nadu with a superior net run-rate to win the south zone inter-state T20 title, but there was nothing much to celebrate for the champions. Till last year, the winners from each zone would qualify for the all-India leg, but from this edition a combined zonal team will play in the final phase to be held in Mumbai from February 12.

Karnataka, who chased down the target of 121 set by Goa with 8.2 overs to spare in their final league game, finished on top with 16 points in five games. Tamil Nadu, who overcame Kerala by four wickets, and Hyderabad, who suffered a stunning defeat at the hands of Andhra, finished second and third respectively. Karnataka coach J. Arun Kumar said the biggest incentive for a state is to win the national title. “We are done with the tournament in just five days. Every state is fighting for glory, but that doesn’t seem to happen in this format,” said Arun.

Scores: Andhra 140 in 19.2 overs (G.H. Vihari 49, Ricky Bhui 21, Ravi Kiran 2/ 27, Md. Siraj 4/24) bt Hyderabad 129 in 20 overs (Tanmay Agarwal 49, Akash Bhandari 26,  P. Girinath Reddy 3/19, D. Swaroop Kumar 5/19). Goa 120/7 in 20 overs (Swapnil Asnodkar 34, S. Arvind 4/29) lost to Karnataka 121/4 in 11.4 overs (R. Vinay Kumar 34, Pavan Deshpande 32*). Kerala 128/6 in 20 overs (Sachin Baby 53*, Jalaj Saxena 22, R. Sathish 2/16, A. Aswin Crist 3/19) lost to Tamil Nadu 129/5 in 18.4 overs (B. Aparajith 51*).

South Zone squad: R. Vinay Kumar (captain, Karnataka), Vijay Shankar (vice-captain, TN), Tanmey Agarwal (Hyderabad), Mayank Agarwal (Karnataka), Vishnu Vinod (Kerala), Ricky Bhui (Andhra), Dinesh Karthik (TN), G. Hanuma Vihari (Andhra), Pavan Deshpande (Karnataka), Rahil S. Shah (TN), M. Ashwin (TN), D. Swaroop (Andhra), C. V. Milind (Hyderabad), Basil Thampi (Kerala), Sandeep Warrier (Kerala), Arvind Sreenath (Karnataka).