Hyderabad, unbeaten before this game, were bowled out for 90 before TN got to the target with 34 balls to spare
Tamil Nadu 92 for 2 (Vijay 43*, Sudharsan 34*, Readdi 2-23) beat Hyderabad 90 (Thyagarajan 25, Saravana 5-21, Mohammed 2-12, Ashwin 2-13) by eight wickets
Hyderabad, so dominant as they swept the Elite Group E and then trumped Gujarat in the quarter-final, were in trouble straightaway after being asked to bat, Saravana striking in each of his three overs in the powerplay – twice in the second – to leave the scoreboard reading 30 for 4 after six overs. His victims at that stage were the top four of the Hyderabad order: captain Tanmay Agarwal, Pragnay Reddy, Tilak Varma and Himalay Agarwal.
Legspinner Ashwin got rid of B Sandeep and Chama Milind, while medium pacer Mohammed sent back Ravi Teja and Mehdi Hassan, and left-arm spinner Sai Kishore dismissed Rahul Buddhi.
For 32-year-old Saravana, it was a maiden five-for in what was his third game – all T20s, all in this tournament – for Tamil Nadu.
Tamil Nadu will face the winners of the other semi-final, being played between Karnataka and Vidarbha, in the title round.