Mumbai’s Suryansh Shedge played an absolute blinder to guide his team to their 2nd Syed Mushtaq Ali title on Sunday, December 15. Shedge, who was bought by Punjab Kings in the IPL mega-auction hit 36* off just 15 balls, helped Mumbai win by 5 wickets vs Rajat Patidar’s Madhya Pradesh.
Suryansh’s tremendous lower-order heroics, supported by Atharva Ankolekar’s 16* off 6 balls helped Mumbai chase down a target of 175 runs with 13 balls remaining. The duo completed the job for Mumbai after the team had lost heavyweights Prithvi Shaw, Ajinkya Rahane, Suryakumar Yadav and Shivam Dube during the chase.
While Mumbai lost wickets in regular intervals, they stuck to a professional T20 approach in the 175-run chase. The players tried to attack the bowlers throughout the chase, bar Suryakumar Yadav, who had the job of an anchor. Suryakumar top scored with 48 off 35 balls. before getting dismissed by Shivam Shukla in the 15th over of the game. Suryakumar was Mumbai’s last wicket to fall.
Batters like Prithvi Shaw (10 off 6), Ajinkya Rahane (37 off 30), Shreyas Iyer (16 off 9), kept pressure on Madhya Pradesh, knowing well that they batted deep. The move to keep up with the required run rate paid off when Ankolekar and Shedge clicked, late in the innings.
RAJAT PATIDAR PLAYS BLINDER
Earlier in the day, Madhya Pradesh struggled to cut loose in the first innings of the match. After Shardul Thakur sent both openers packing (Arpit Gaud and Harsh Gawli), MP were stuck in a run, with Harpreet Singh playing a terrible innings (15 off 23). This delayed the entry of Rajat Patidar and Venkatesh Iyer, which meant that the duo had to score quick runs in very little time.
While Iyer got out (17 off 9), Patidar played a sensational innings off 81* off just 40 balls, helping MP reach a respectable total of 174 runs. Patidar played some incredible shots despite being under pressure to score runs.
The Royal Challengers Bengaluru batter, retained by the franchise for Rs 11 crore, showed his class at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, hitting 6 fours and 6 boundaries. However, the batter was not able to save MP’s blushes as the team nearly did not score enough runs on the flat deck of the Bengaluru ground.
Speaking after the match, Patidar admitted that they were at least 20 runs short on the day, and thanked the crowd for turning up for the final of a domestic tournament.
“This is not the result we wanted. Happy with the way the boys played throughout the tournament. We were 20-25 runs short today. Four-five players were playing this tournament for the first time, but happy with the efforts they put in. I always love playing here. Want to thank the fans for supporting us,” Rajat Patidar said.
Shedge, who had played a blinder in the quarter-final of the tournament as well, was judged the player of the match for the final against MP.
