Gujarat Titans (GT) will consider 20-year-old all-rounder Nishant Sindhu a steal deal as they roped him in for his base price of Rs 30 lakh. Less than 24 hours later, Sindhu showed that he can score at a rapid rate with an unbeaten 48-ball century for Haryana against Arunachal Pradesh in Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (SMAT) 2024.
Interestingly, Sindhu did not even have a half-century to his name before he was picked by GT. The 20-year-old southpaw was a part of Chennai Super Kings' (CSK) squad but did not get to make his IPL debut.
Sindhu became Haryana's second centurion in the history of the tournament. Guntashveer Singh scored the first in the 2019 edition against Mizoram.
Earlier, Haryana skipper Ankit Kumar won the toss and opted to bat first. They got off to a flying start. Ankit and Himanshu Rana shared a 81-run partnership from 39 balls. The onslaught continued in the middle overs as well. Rana missed a chance to score a century in the penultimate over. The opener scored 91 runs from 45 balls including 11 fours and four sixes.
Sindhu reached his century from 48 balls. His knock was laced with 11 furs and four sixes as well. Sumit Kumar contributed with a five-ball 16. Sindhu's maiden T20 century helped Haryana post 255/2. Ramesh Rahul was the most expensive over for Arunachal Pradesh as he conceded 69 runs from four overs.
Harshal's fifer, Chahal-Mohit bag two
In reply, Arunachal Pradesh failed to put up a fight. Harshal Patel who was roped in for Rs 8 crore by Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) bagged five wickets for just 12 runs. He bowled a maiden over as well. Yuzvendra Chahal who bagged an Rs 18 crore deal with Punjab Kings (PBKS) bowled an economical spell. The leg-spinner claimed two wickets and conceded 15 runs from four overs. Mohit Sharma took two wickets whereas pacer Anshul Kamboj took one wicket. Left-arm spinner Sindhu bowled two overs and conceded 10 runs.
Sindhu's T20 numbers
Sindhu has played 21 T20s and scored 360 runs from 17 innings at an average of 25.71. He has 15 wickets at an average of 15.26. His economy rate of 6.18 runs per over is impressive.
