On Sunday, Karnata defeated their bitter rivals Tamil Nadu, by one run to win the final of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. Karnataka defeated Tamil Nadu in the most thrilling way and in the process, it also became the only team in history to win the tournament in succession.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B47IoE1nQlT/
However, Tamil Nadu’s spinner, Ravi Ashwin’s performance and the way he expressed his emotions at the final, became the highlight of the day. Ravichandran Ashwin almost turned the tables by taking the wickets of Mayank Agarwal and KL Rahul off consecutive deliveries in the 5th over.
It was an eye-treat for the fans to watch Ravi Ashwin celebrate in an Imran Tahir-esque way. He ran around the ground in delight. Ravi Ashwin’s 5th over was exactly what the final needed to be to make everyone sit on the edge of their seats. An Indian player showing his emotions in a domestic tournament brought the whole finale to life.
Ravichandran Ashwin finished the game with figures of 2/34 as Karnataka would post 180/5 in their 20 overs. Ashwin was next called up with the bat, with his team needing 30 off 17 balls.
With Tamil Nadu needed only 13 to win off the last over, Ravi Ashwin was on strike to Krishnappa Gowtham. At the other hand, it was Vijay Shankar, with Ravi Ashwin deciding to go for a double off the last ball of the 19th over.
https://twitter.com/Offl_TheViper/status/1201191922477473792
He smashed two fours off Gowtham and then the audience witnessed him ‘punching in the air’ as the equation was brought down to 5 needed off 4 balls. However, the celebration turned out to be premature, just like how Mushfiqur Rahim’s celebration had been in 2016 vs India.
Without Helmet
DHONI = Ashwin
— Sujoy (@SujoyBarg07) December 1, 2019
Ravichandran Ashwin took off his helmet for the last over, with Gowtham’s spin to deal with – doing a MS Dhoni here. Later, as his team needed only 3 runs to win off the last ball, he went ahead to take off his leg guard as well. However, Ashwin could score 2 runs by taking singles and Karnataka won by 1 run.
Twitter was flooded with reactions on Ravichandran’s performance, here, have a look at how Twitterati reacted:
Best moment was Ashwin did a Mushfiqur after smashing 2 fours in first 2 balls only to lose.
— arfan (@Im__Arfan) December 1, 2019
Ashwin celebratng after hitting 2nd boundary in last over reminded me of Bangladesh captain celebrating too soon at Bengaluru some years back. BD captain wanted to win versus India desperately & Ashwin wanted to win versus Ktk desperately. Both celebrated early & their teams lost
— Aarenn (@KarnatakaCrickt) December 1, 2019
https://twitter.com/asbinraj2/status/1201187019457585153
https://twitter.com/Offl_TheViper/status/1201191922477473792
https://twitter.com/FreakoCrick/status/1201198423073935360
https://twitter.com/manoj_shetty__/status/1201194419371687937
Ashwin done a Mushfiqur Rahim today.. and Karnataka Won
So Never celebrate before you win.
Proved once again today.#KARvTN #SyedMustaqAliTrophy pic.twitter.com/56A0i7dDef
— ?.?.?.? ? (@JitRo45) December 1, 2019
https://twitter.com/AN_EVILSOUL/status/1201211865499623425
Did saw a glimpses of Mushfiqur Rahim in Ravi Ashwin today after his 2nd boundary in the last over.. Celebrating too early and gifting us the victory! pic.twitter.com/wyHCjkzXKg
— Harshavardhan R (@im92harsha) December 1, 2019
This Ashwin said one day not to celebrate the win before the match, he did today as if he had won the World Cup.#ashwin#MushtaqAliT20@ashwinravi99 pic.twitter.com/JAh50ICd1g
— Somrat Hossain (@SomratOfficial) December 1, 2019
