Karnataka became the first domestic side to win two limited-overs trophies in the same season after backing up their Vijay Hazare Trophy triumph with a nail-biting win over Tamil Nadu in the final of the Syed Mushtaq Ali trophy.

Just one run separated the sides after Dinesh Karthik sent in Karnataka to bat first at Surat. In-form openers KL Rahul and Devdutt Padikkal started powerfully before Ravi Ashwin broke through with the wicket of Rahul for 22. Tamil Nadu's joy was doubled when big-hitting Mayank Agarwal was dismissed off the next ball, but Padikkal and captain Manish Pandey steadied the innings with a stand of forty-eight. Pandey also found an able ally in Rohan Kadam, with whom he stitched 65. Kadam first sent left-arm spinner Maniraman Siddharth for successive fours before finding three more consecutive boundaries off Vijay Shankar in the fifteenth over.

Kadam got dismissed by M Ashwin for a quick 35, but Pandey continued his charge from the other end. The captain relieved the pressure with occasional boundaries whenever runs dried up, particularly targeting M Ashwin. He launched him for a straight six that almost sent the ball into orbit, prompting a replacement with a new ball, followed by a boundary that beat long-on. In the next over, Washington suffered the same fate with a six-pulled-over square leg. Pandey ended unbeaten on 60 from 45 balls, while Karun Nair contributed with a quickfire 17 off just 8 balls, guiding Karnataka to 180 for 5.

Tamil Nadu sent the explosive Shahrukh Khan to open, but both he and Hari Nishanth fell in the teens during the powerplay. But just when it seemed that new batsmen Karthik and Washington would bat deep, the captain was stumped off Jagadeesha Suchith for 20. The chase seemed further out of Tamil Nadu’s grasp with Washington's departure for 24, with 101 required off 60 balls.

That is when they hit back through all-rounders Baba Aparajith and Vijay Shankar. While the scorecard was kept ticking with singles, no over went by until the duo remained at the crease where a boundary was not found, with spinners Suchith and Shreyas Gopal punished each time they missed their length. Shankar smashed three boundaries while Aparajith tonked a six off Suchith to get the ball rolling for Tamil Nadu.

Pandey replaced Gopal with medium-pacer Ronit More, but Shankar sliced his first ball for four while Aparajith cut the third one for another boundary; off the first ball of Suchith's next over, Aparajith drove on the up beautifully for a six over extra cover. Tamil Nadu remained in the hunt with 30 required off 18 deliveries when More removed Aparajith for 40.

With 24 needed from 11 balls, Ravi Ashwin's inside edge went for four and Shankar sent one over cover for the second boundary of the over. Off-spinner Krishnappa Gowtham was tasked with defending 13 off the final over, whose first two deliveries were whacked on either side of the wicket for crucial boundaries. That brought the equation down to 5 off 3.

Ashwin took a single to bring back the aggressive Shankar on strike, but tragedy struck for Tamil Nadu in the next ball. In a bid to retain strike, Shankar ran a risky two but a rapid, accurate throw from Pandey from long on saw him fall short despite a dive. Shankar was run out for 44 with three to get off the final ball. But new man M Ashwin could manage only a single, as the see-saw game finished with Karnataka edging past Tamil Nadu by one run.