Indore: Maharashtra defeated Hyderabad by 19 runs to win the Syed Mustaq Ali Trophy here on Tuesday night. In a low scoring match by T20 standards, Maharashtra successfully defended a modest 119 as its new ball bowlers Samad Mohammed Fallah (four for 12) and Kishor Bikhane (three for 19) struck telling blows at the start.

Left arm medium pacer Fallah started the rut when he dismissed Prince in the first over. Hyderabad never recovered from the early loss of its opener and both the medium pacers reduced Hyderabad to 24 for five at the end of the seventh over. Barring SA Pai (23) none of the batsmen showed any inclination to stay at the wicket. Pai figured in a 23 run stand with skipper Shinde for the sixth wicket. But both Pai and Shinde left in quick succession and it was left to Bhandari, who played a few rousing shots at the end, to enable his side reach the 100. In the end, Hyderabad was let down by their top-order batsmen who failed to fire.

Earlier, Hyderabad spinners Vihari (three for 28) and Bhandari (three for 25) bowled well in tandem to restrict Maharashtra to 119. Maharashtra lost wickets at regular Captain Motwani and Ansari looked to be control of things when the spinners were introduced. But wickets fell at regular intervals and Maharashtra collapsed from a comfortable score of 51 for two in the seventh over. It took a late rally from Wagahmare (29 off 25 balls) to enable his side cross the century mark but Maharashtra failed to bat its full quota of overs and settled for a total which was under par to say the least. But Hyderabad batsmen committed hara-kiri and handed over the match on a platter to Maharashtra.