Mumbai beat Himachal Pradesh by three wickets at Eden Gardens, Kolkata to clinch their maiden Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy title. Sarfaraz Khan played a splendid knock under pressure to end Rishi Dhawan-led Himachal Pradesh’s fairytale run in the tournament. Giants of Indian domestic cricket, Mumbai, struggled in the low-scoring run chase but Sarfaraz with support from lower-order batter Tanush Kotian created history in Kolkata.
In the run chase of 144, Prithvi Shaw departed early in the second over. Skipper Rishi Dhawan got Shaw's (11) wicket in the second over. Skipper Ajinkya Rahane disappointed his side once again. Rishi trapped him in front of the stumps in the fifth over. Rahane scored just a single form five deliveries.
Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shreyas Iyer stabilised the run chase. They kept the required run rate in check as well. Despite losing both openers, Mumbai had 43 runs on board after powerplay overs. Mayank Dagar broke the partnership before the halfway stage. Jaiswal departed a 28-ball 27.
Iyer tried to end the run chase early and targetted Dagar. Vaibhav Arora got the wicket of the in-form Iyer in the 14th over. He scored 34 runs from 26 deliveries including four fours and one six. In the 17th over, Vaibhav struck twice to dismiss Shivam Dube (7) and Aman Hakim Khan (6). Dagar almost provided the wicket of Sarfaraz but his catch was dropped. However, he managed to get the better of Shams Mulani (2).
In the final two overs, Mumbai needed 23 runs to win. Kanwar Abhinay Singh erred in the penultimate over. Sarfaraz broke free and hit him for two fours and one six in the 17-run over to bring the equation to six runs in the final over. In the final over, Rishi did not have enough runs on the board. Tanush Kotian finished off the run chase with a six over fine leg to guide Mumbai to their maiden Syed Mushtaq Ali title win.
Earlier Rahane won the toss and opted to field first at Eden Gardens, Kolkata. Himachal Pradesh lost the wickets of opener Ankush Bains (4) and Sumeet Verma (8) to Mohit Avasthi in the powerplay overs.
Once again, Prashant Chopra struggled to score. Nikhil Gangta tried to provide the acceleration but lost his wicket in the eighth over to Kotian. He got rid of Nitin Sharma off the next delivery as well. Then Dube got into the act and removed in-form Rishi (1). Chopra succumbed to the pressure as well and became Kotian's third victim of the night. All of a sudden, Himachal Pradesh went from 51/2 to 58/6 in a matter of 14 deliveries.
In-form Akash Vasisht and Ekant Sen shared a crucial 60-run partnership for the seventh wicket. Hakim Khan broke the partnership in the 18th over. Vasisht scored 25 runs from 22 deliveries including three boundaries. Avasthi returned to bowl the penultimate over and got the wicket of Sen. He top-scored for Himachal Pradesh with 37 runs from 29 deliveries including three fours and two sixes. In the final two overs, Dagar played a much-needed cameo to get his side to a respectable total of 143/8. He hit two fours and one six in his 12-ball 21.
