Shedge, Suryakumar power Mumbai to Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy glory

mumbai 180 for 5 (Suryakumar 48, Rahane 37, Shedge 36*, Tripuresh 2-34) beat Madhya Pradesh 174 for 8 (Patidar 81*, Dias 2-32, Thakur 2-41) by five wickets

Mumbai have yet another star in the making, and yet another trophy in a cabinet which is fast 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 latest of which led Mumbai to a 175-run chase with 13 balls remaining.

Shedge starred with an unbeaten 36 off 15 balls while adding an unbeaten 51 from just 19 deliveries with Atharva Ankolekarwho hit the winning six. Shedge smashed three fours and three sixes during his knock, none more impressive than a six which would have made Suryakumar Yadav proud. The 21-year-old got across to a length ball from Venkatesh Iyer in the 17th over, and nonchalantly swiped him over long leg to all but confirm Mumbai’s second Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy title. The latest emerging name from Mumbai now has knocks of 30* (eight balls), 36* (12) and 36* (15) in three of his last four T20 games.

The chase was set up by Suryakumar and Ajinkya Rahanewho ended as the tournament’s highest run-getter. They took some time in adding 52 for the third wicket, but that helped steady Mumbai after they were 47 for 2 in the fifth over. Rahane even got lucky when, off the last ball of the powerplay, he got a leading edge which flew to mid-off, where Rajat Patidar dived to his left, only for the ball to drop short.

Rahane and Suryakumar built steadily, but with another 110 runs required from the remaining 69 balls, Suryakumar accelerated. He scooped and lofted Rahul Batham for four and six. Rahane started the next over by reverse sweeping and pulling Kumar Kartikeya for four. Venkatesh got Rahane for 37 in the 12th over, but Suryakumar bashed Batham for two sixes in the 13th.

Shivam Shukla then had Suryakumar caught at short fine leg for 48. When Shedge and Ankolekar came together Mumbai needed another 46 from 32 balls, and the match could have gone either way. But the two ensured the trophy came home.

Earlier, MP needed Patidar, their captain, to make a match out of it on Sunday. He was only behind Rahane among the run-getters this season and cracked 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 while helping MP score 80 runs in the last seven overs.

There was the pull, the loft, the upper cut, the slice, and the swipe to savour for a sizeable Chinnaswamy crowd, as Patidar picked up pace after managing just nine from as many deliveries at the start. His shots had plenty of power as the ball crashed into the stands, and made for fearless T20 hitting. But at the end of the day, Patidar’s heroics couldn’t take MP over the line.

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