“Well done lads”: R Ashwin reacts to Murugan Ashwin’s diving catch to dismiss Sanju Samson in Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy quarter-final

Murugan Ashwin’s diving catch: The spinner from Tamil Nadu grabbed a brilliant catch to send back the opposition captain.

During the first quarter-final of the ongoing 16th season of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy between Tamil Nadu and Kerala in Delhi, Tamil Nadu spinner Murugan Ashwin put on display a praiseworthy fielding effort to dismiss Kerala captain Sanju Samson (0) cheaply.

Coming in to bat at No. 4 in the 13th over, Samson aimed at playing an inside out shot against spinner Sanjay Yadav. However, with the ball turning sharply away from him, it hit the outside part of Samson’s bat only to move towards the left of point.

Ashwin, who was fielding at point, timed his dive to perfection to complete a brilliant catch. The fact that Tamil Nadu managed to dismiss Samson on the second delivery that he faced with seven overs remaining was like a shot in the arm for them.

Despite Samson’s failure, Kerala managed to put on board a competitive 181/4 in 20 overs after Tamil Nadu captain Vijay Shankar invited them to bat first at the Arun Jaitley Stadium today.

Vishnu Vinod, who replaced Samson in the middle, scored a brisk seventh T20 half-century in a knockout match. Before Vinod scoring 65* (26) at a strike rate of 250 with the help of two fours and seven sixes, Kerala opener batter Rohan Kunnummal had contributed with 51 (43).

R Ashwin reacts to Murugan Ashwin’s diving catch to dismiss Sanju Samson

In the second innings, defending champions played liked one to seal the chase with three deliveries remaining and five wickets in hand. While Tamil Nadu’s batters didn’t score quickfire half-century, healthy contributions from Sai Sudharsan (46), Shankar (33), Hari Nishaanth (32) and Yadav (32) were enough to propel them to the semi-final of the tournament.

India spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, who had last played the Syed Mushtaq Alu Trophy for Tamil Nadu in the 2019-20 season, took to social media platform Twitter to applaud his teammates for winning yet another match this season.

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