India's T20 skipper Suryakumar Yadav smashed 70 off 46 balls in his first appearance in the 2024 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy while Shivam Dube capped his return from a three-month long injury lay-off with a scintillating 36-ball-71 as Mumbai outplayed Services by 39 runs in a Group E match in Hyderabad on Tuesday. Batting first, Mumbai scored 192 for 4 riding on the 130-run fourth wicket stand between Surya and Dube.
Between the duo, they smashed 11 sixes with Dube enjoying the lion's share. Surya also hit seven boundaries while Dube had a couple of fours to his credit. Surya's hits were primarily on the on-side with one six over long-on, couple towards deep mid-wicket region and one behind square.
Both batters were severe on off-spinner Nitin Tanwar who went for 54 in his four overs.
In reply, Services were all out for 153 in 19.3 overs with Shardul Thakur redeeming himself with figures of 4/25. Left arm spinner Shams Mulani also chipped in with three wickets. Dube won the player of the match award after also getting a wicket.
For Shardul, after attaining the ignominy of highest runs conceded in a full spell of Mushtaq Ali Trophy during the previous game against Kerala, this was a morale boosting performance.
Brief Scores: Mumbai 192/4 (Suryakumar Yadav 70, Shivam Dube 71). Services 153 in 19.3 overs (Shardul Thakur 4/25). Mumbai won by 39 runs.
Shami plays sixth match in 11 days, bowls 15 dots
Mohammed Shami bowled 15 dot deliveries in his sixth consecutive SMAT T20 match while unheralded Karan Lal smoked 94 in just 47 balls as Bengal hammered Bihar by nine wickets in a Group A match in Rajkot.
Bihar without their teen prodigy Vaibhav Suryavanshi, managed 147 for 6 in 20 overs with Sayan Ghosh (2/32) being the pick of the bowlers. Bengal knocked off the chase in just 14 overs with Lal smashing nine fours and six sixes.
However all eyes were on Shami, who was economical once again with figures of 1/18 in 4 overs after 0/16 in 4 against Meghalaya.
Shami has now played six T20 games in 11 days and bowled 23.3 overs out of a maximum of 24 overs. He has so far got five wickets with three coming against Hyderabad.
It is still not certain whether Shami will be summoned for the Border Gavaskar Trophy.
Brief Scores: Bihar 147/6 in 20 overs (Sayan Ghosh 2/32, Mohammed Shami 1/18). Bengal 150/1 (Karan Lal 94 not out, Sudip Kr Gharami 32 not out). Bengal won by 9 wickets.
Delhi lose to Kushagra's Jharkhand
Kumar Kushagra waltzed his way to 55 off 30 balls as Jharkhand handed Delhi their first defeat of the tournament in a Group C match in Mumbai.
Delhi managed a lowly 154 for 8 in 20 overs with only Priyansh Arya showing his top dollar IPL billing with 38 off just 22 balls. In reply Jharkhand scored the runs with an over to spare losing only five wickets.
Veteran Ishant Sharma, who is playing the tournament as preparation for the IPL, got 2 for 38.
However, Delhi remained on top of Group C with five wins in six games and a match still left. Their last match is against Arunachal Pradesh and they are expected to romp home and easily qualify for the knock-out stages.
Brief Scores: Delhi 154/8 in 20 overs (Priyansh Arya 38, Anuj Rawat 49, Bal Krishna 2/27). Jharkhand 157/5 (Kumar Kushagra 55 not out, Ishan Sharma 2/38). Jharkhand on by 5 wickets.