- By Himanshu Badola
- Sun, 15 Dec 2024 08:59 PM (IST)
- Source:JND
Mumbai vs Madhya Pradesh Final, SMAT 2024: Mumbai defeated Madhya Pradesh by five wickets in the final of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2024 at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on Sunday, December 15.
Suryakumar Yadav and Suryansh Shedge came up with impactful batting efforts as Mumbai clinched their second domestic T20 league title in the last three years.
They chased down the 175-run target in 17.5 overs. Atharva Ankolekar and Suryansh Shegde stitched the match-winning partnership of 51 runs. Suryansh played a fiery unbeaten knock of 36 runs in just 15 balls with the help of three fours and as many sixes whereas Atharva remained unbeaten on 16 runs off 6 balls.
After a brief period of lull, Suryakumar Yadav (48 runs in 35 balls) reactivated his run-making ways and added 52 runs for the third wicket with Ajinkya Rahane (37 runs in 30 balls).
It helped Mumbai to recover from the early dismissals of Prithvi Shaw and skipper Shreyas Iyer, both of them falling to rather causal shots.
Just when it seemed that the two veteran batters would carry Mumbai home, Rahane slashed Venkatesh Iyer straight into the hands of Rahul Batham at deep.
Suryakumar followed soon, top-edging off-spinner Shivam Shukla to Avesh Khan at short fine leg.
At 129 for five in 14.4 overs, Mumbai needed 46 runs but any worries were soon eased by the big-hitting Suryansh Shedge (36* runs in 15 balls) and Atharva Ankolekar (16* runs in 6 balls) who knocked off the remaining runs without much fuss in a little over three overs.
Earlier, Patidar shone brightly while hammering his fifth fifty of this tournament.
The right-hander, who was retained by the Royal Challengers Bengaluru, entertained an over 15,000 crowd, who backed him and MP to the hilt, with twinkling shot-making.
In fact, Patidar singlehandedly held the MP innings together as the next highest was a 23 by Shubhranshu Senapati.
Madhya Pradesh had made a rather sedate beginning to their innings after losing openers Arpit Gaud (3) and Harsh Gawli (2).
They reached 38 for two in the Power Play, which later transpired to 114 for five in 15 overs.
However, Patidar found an able ally in Batham (19 runs in 14 balls) as they added 56 runs for the sixth wicket as MP added 60 runs in the last five overs.
Patidar, a clean-striker of the balls, too upped the level of his play, as indicated by a stunning walk-across-the-line six off pacer Shardul Thakur.
But individual brilliance was not enough to stop the Mumbai juggernaut on the night.
