Bombay 180 for 5 (Suryakumar 48, Rahane 37, Shedge 36*, Tripuresh 2-34) won Madhya Pradesh 174 for 8 (Patidar 81*, Dias 2-32, Thakur 2-41) for five wickets
Mumbai have another star in the making and yet another trophy in a cabinet that is rapidly running out of space. Even before the ball landed beyond the straight boundary to confirm victory in the 2024 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy final against Madhya Pradesh, Suryansh Shedge was leaping and punching the air. He now has three crucial contributions in his last four innings, the last of which helped Mumbai seal a 175-run chase with 13 balls to spare.
Shedge scored an unbeaten 36 off 15 balls and added an unbroken stand of 51 off 19 deliveries with Atharva Ankolekar, who hit the winning six. Shedge smashed three fours and three sixes during his knock, none more impressive than a six that would have made Suryakumar Yadav proud. The 21-year-old received a long ball from Venkatesh Iyer in the 17th over and nonchalantly flicked it over long leg to all but confirm Mumbai’s second Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy title. He now has knocks of 30* (eight balls), 36* (12) and 36* (15) in three of his last four T20 games.
The chase was started by Suryakumar and Ajinkya Rahane, who finished as the highest run-getters of the tournament. They took some time to add 52 for the third wicket, but that helped stabilize Mumbai after they scored 47 for 2 in the fifth over. Rahane even got lucky when, on the last ball of the powerplay, he got a lead that flew to mid-off, where Rajat Patidar dived towards his left only for the ball to slip away from him.
Rahane and Suryakumar built steadily, but with another 110 runs required off 69 balls, Suryakumar accelerated. He picked up and lifted Rahul Batham for four and six. Rahane started the next by reverse sweeping and pulling Kumar Kartikeya for four. Venkatesh got Rahane for 37 in the 12th over, but Suryakumar bowled Batham for two sixes in the 13th over.
Shivam Shukla then trapped Suryakumar at short fine leg for 48. When Shedge and Ankolekar came together, Mumbai needed 46 off 32 balls, and the match could have gone either way. But the two made sure the trophy came into their hands.
Earlier, MP needed Patidar, their captain, to make a pair. He was only behind Rahane in the run charts and continued to pile up runs, hitting an unbeaten 81 off 40 balls with six fours and six sixes. MP were 86 for 5 at the start of the 13th over, but Patidar looked immovable, helping MP score 80 runs in the last seven overs.
There was a pull, a loft, an upper cut, a slice and a drive to savor before a sizable Chinnaswamy crowd, as Patidar picked up the pace after managing just nine of as many deliveries early on. His shots had plenty of power, the ball crashed into the stands and it was a fearless display of T20 hitting. But at the end of the day, Patidar’s heroics were not enough.
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