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Punjab beat Baroda by 20 runs at their home ground in Mohali to win their first-ever Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy title. First, Anmolpreet Singh became the first-ever batter to score a century in the SMAT final. Nehal Wadhera's quickfire half-century helped them post 223/4 on the board. Later, Baroda came close to chasing the target but Arshdeep Singh's three wickets in the penultimate over helped them win the match with ease.
Earlier, Pandya won the toss and opted to field first. Soyeb Sopariya started off with the wicket of in-form Abhishek Sharma off the first ball of the match. Anmolpreet started off with a boundary off the first ball he faced. In the fourth over, Prabhsimran Singh was dismissed by Atit Sheth after hitting a six. Anmolpreet and Mandeep helped Punjab post 44/2 in the powerplay overs. Mandeep was looking to accelerate when Pandya dismissed him in the 11th over. In the next over, Anmolpreet reached his half-century from 36 balls.
Wadhera boosted the scoring rate as he hit Abhimanyu Singh for 19 runs including for fours. In the 17th over, Anmolpreet hit Lukman Meriwala for three consecutive sixes. Wadhera hit Sheth for two sixes as they completed the 100-run partnership in no time. In the penultimate over, Anmolpreet went berserk. He reached his century from 58 balls. Sopariya conceded 22 runs including three sixes from Anmolpreet’s bat.
In the final over, Wadhera reached his half-century from 23 balls. He hit Sheth for two fours and a six. Anmolpreet got run out of the penultimate ball which turned out to be a wide. He scored 113 runs from 61 balls including 10 fours and a six. Sanvir Singh ended the innings with a boundary. Punjab posted 223/4. Wadhera remained unbeaten for 61 off 27 balls featuring six fours and four sixes.
In the run chase, Baroda lost Jyotsnil Singh to Siddharth Kaul in the second over. Ninad Rathva pushed the scoring rate in the fourth over with two fours and a six. Rathva hit three fours and two more sixes in the powerplay overs. Baroda were 64/1 after six overs. In the eighth over, Mayank Markande provided the breakthrough. Rathva got stumped and missed his half-century. His 22-ball 47 was laced with five fours and three sixes.
In the 14th over, the partnership between Abhimanyu Singh and Pandya accelerated. Abhimanyu hit Markande for three consecutive sixes. A few dropped catches hurt Punjab. Abhimanyu reached his half-century from 36 balls. In the 17th over, Arshdeep Singh got the wicket of Abhimanyu. He scored 61 runs from 42 balls including three fours and four sixes. In the 18th over, Vishnu Solanki revived Baroda's hopes in the run chase by hitting Kaul for two sixes and three fours.
In the penultimate over, Arshdeep got Pandya's wicket. Baroda skipper hit three fours and a six in his 32-ball 45. Arshdeep provided the wickets of Shivalik Sharma and Bhanu Pania in the same over. Baroda needed 29 runs from the last over. Solanki could not do much and lost his wicket to Harpreet Brar. He contributed with an 11-ball 28 cameo. Dhruv Patel hit one six off the final over but Baroda could post 203/7 on the board and lost the match by 20 runs.
