TG20 | Hyderabad e-Champions makes the final vs. Khammam Aces a walk in the park

The final was billed as the ultimate test. Hyderabad e-Champions, however, made it look like just another day at the office. Capping off a season of sustained excellence, it sealed the inaugural TG20 title in commanding fashion, defeating Khammam Aces by six wickets in the final at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium on Sunday.

Asked to bat, Aces endured a nightmare start, stumbling to 33 for three in the PowerPlay — the second-lowest tally in that phase by any team in the tournament.

Returning from the Emerging Men’s Tournament for this contest, K. Himateja joined forces with Mickil Jaiswal to steady the innings, absorbing the pressure before shifting gears.

They smashed 16 runs off Shanmukha Ashwin in the 11th over and brought up a 50-run stand in just 36 balls, only for a 30-minute floodlight failure to halt their momentum.

Undeterred when play resumed, Mickil raced to a 31-ball half-century and looked set to power Aces to a formidable total. But Yashveer Goud swung the contest back, breaking the 94-run partnership by dismissing Himateja before removing C.V. Milind for a duck.

Mickil’s fluent 39-ball 65 ended against a slower delivery, and Aces limped to 157 for eight.

Any hopes of defending that total quickly evaporated.

A string of dropped chances only hastened Aces’ downfall as Abhirath Reddy and Shanmukha punished every error, stitching together a fluent 37-ball 62-run stand that effectively settled the contest.

Even after they departed, there was no way back for Aces. Vaishnav Reddy and Pranav Varma calmly completed the formalities, steering e-Champions to victory with 15 balls to spare.

The scores: Khammam Aces 157/8 in 20 overs (K. Himateja 31, Mickil Jaiswal 65, Dev Mehta 2/25, Ajay Dev Goud 2/36, Yashveer Goud 3/17) lost to Hyderabad e-Champions 159/4 in 17.3 overs (Abhirath Reddy 47, Shanmukha Ashwin 36, Vaishnav Reddy 41 n.o.).