The southern zonal finale featured champions from Tamil Nadu and Kerala with the lone team from Mysore, Karnataka completing the line-up. The teams were all very well prepared and had won from large number of teams in their city rounds.
The final witnessed a very tense and swift battle as all the teams went for leather. As the game progressed the team from Trivandrum looked good as did CUSAT from Kochi. It was however IIM Kozhikode which hit two sixes after a boundary to look like getting ahead of the rest but PSG and IIT Madras were scoring as well making the game very interesting.
The PSG team played superbly but were very reluctant to play the sixes. Strategy is as crucial as your knowledge thundered Pickbrain and his words of wisdom seemed so true in the end as PSG missed out by a run.
As it moved to the final ball, it had IIT Madras on 12, IIM and PSG on 16 and CUSAT on 17. CUSAT played smart and stayed off the buzzer knowing they would not finish third, given that two teams would go to the national final. It was a gritty IIT Madras that went for the buzzer and played a six to reach 18 and win a memorable game.
The seasoned Pickbrain, called it the “best zonal ever since the zonals started” and his description sure seemed apt given the way the game went.
WINNER : IIT Madras – Pranav Hari and Rahul Humayun
RUNNER UP : CUSAT Kochi – Rithwik and Jis Sebastian