Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu played out a thrilling last-ball tie in the final of the Ranji Inter-state one-day knock-out tournament in Mumbai on Thursday to share the trophy.
Needing a run off the last ball, with the last pair in, UP wicketkeeper-batsman Amir Khan was run-out at the non-striker's end following a throw from Anirudh Srikkanth after driving Tamil Nadu bowler Vidyut Sivarmakrishnan to mid- off.
UP needed 11 from the last two overs and seven off the last six balls to overtake TN's score of 248. They drew level with the fifth ball before Khan was run-out off the last for 31 in 58 balls with just one four in it.
It was a dramatic finish to a fascinating contest, in which fortunes fluctuated rapidly in hot, sweltering conditions.
UP came back from the dead at 182 for 8 in the 36th over to tie the scores after their last two wickets added 66 runs.
Khan put on 30 runs for the ninth wicket with Salab Srivastava (10 in 17 balls), and 36 runs amidst mounting tension with last-man Praveen Gupta, who remained unbeaten on 17 off 24 balls.
The early momentum to the UP run-chase was provided by in-form batsman Suresh Raina, who carted the Tamil Nadu bowlers to all parts of the field while scoring a quickfire 48 off only 33 balls, with the help of nine fours and a six.
Opener Rohit Prakash anchored the chase with a 77-ball 57 while Ravikant Shukla scored 34.
Earlier, Tamil Nadu suffered a dramatic collapse, losing their last five wickets for 11 runs in 24 balls to slump from a healthy 237 for five to 248 all out in 48.4 overs.
Tamil Nadu openers Vidyut, with a run-a-ball 41, including seven fours, and Anirudh (30 off 37 balls, 7 fours), got their side off to a flier after their captain Hemang Badani won the toss and elected to bat first.
The duo put on 78 in only 11.4 overs before the former was run-out by a direct hit at the stumps from Rudra Pratap Singh at third man.
TN lost three quick wickets and slid to 119 for 4 when Badani, who scored 69 in 89 balls with five fours, and Hemant Kumar (32) steadied the rocking boat with a partnership of 76 runs in 16 overs.
Hemant departed at 195 and then Badani added 42 runs with Dinesh Karthik before becoming one of the seven batsmen in the match and the fourth from Tamil Nadu to be run-out.
The innings went into steep decline after his dismissal.
The initial part of the UP run-chase was sustained by two partnerships worth 57 runs, for the second and fifth wickets, the first involving Prakash and Raina, and then Prakash and Shukla.
But from 170 for 5, runs were difficult to come by in the face of an accurate spell of left arm slow bowling by TN's Ram Kumar, who gave away only 34 runs in ten overs for the wicket of Srivastava.
Effective bowling by opening bowler Jesuraj, Badrinath and left arm slow Vidyut kept the scoring rate under check and reduced UP to 182 for 8 before the last two wickets helped them finish joint-winners with two resolute stands.
Badani's ploy of having the field set deep in a bid to stop the opposition batsmen from hitting boundaries helped the tail-end batsmen survive on singles and twos.
Scorecard
Tamil Nadu:
S Vidyut run out 41
S Anirudh c Hamid b Praveen Kumar 30
S Badrinath run out 4
H Badani run out 69
S Sharath lbw Praveen Kumar 14
Hemant Kumar c Shukla b Praveen Gupta 32
D Karthick st Khan b Jyoti Yadav 27
S Suresh run out 5
R Ram Kumar st Khan b Jyoti Yadav 2
R Naresh st Khan b Jyoti Yadav 2
R Jesuraj not out 1
Extras: (lb 1, nb 7, w 13) 21
Total: (all out in 48.4 overs) 248
Fall of wickets: 1-78, 2-87, 3-88, 4-119, 5-195, 6-237, 7-238, 8-243, 9-246.
Bowling: R P Singh 7-0-36-0, Srivastava 7-0-36-0, Praveen Kumar 9-1-41-2, Praveen Gupta 9-0-60-1, Raina 10-0-47-0, Jyoti Yadav 6.4-0-27-3.
Uttar Pradesh:
Rohit Prakash c Badrinath b Vidyut 57
Praveen Kumar c and b Naresh 8
S Raina c Badani b Badrinath 48
Jyoti Yadav c Ramkumar b Badrinath 5
R Shamsad lbw Naresh 8
R Shukla run out 34
Amir Khan run out 31
Ali Hamid run out 3
R P Singh c Jesuraj b Vidyut 0
S Srivastava b Ramkumar 10
Praveen Gupta not out 17
Extras: (lb 8, nb 9, w 10) 27
Total: (all out in 50 overs) 248
Fall of wickets: 1-12, 2-69, 3-93, 4-113, 5-170, 6-175, 7-181, 8-182, 9-212
Bowling: Jesuraj 10-2-43-0, Naresh 7-0-39-2, Badrinath 9-0-45-2, Suresh 6-0-39-0, Ramkumar 10-1-34-1, Vidyut 8-0-40-2.
