On Sunday, December 15, in the final of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (SMAT) 2024, Mumbai defeated Madhya Pradesh by five wickets with 11 balls to spare, to win the coveted trophy for the second time in their history. After Madhya Pradesh posted a competitive total of 174 runs on the board on the back of their captain Rajat Patidar’s unbeaten 81, it was the collective effort from Mumbai batters, which proved to be more than enough to win the SMAT 2024 title.
After winning the toss in a day-night SMAT 2024 final, Shreyas Iyer, the captain of Mumbai, decided to field first, and his decision was instantly proved right by Shardul Thakur, who dismissed both the Madhya Pradesh openers for a single-digit score. Subhranshu Senapati (23 off 17) and Harpreet Singh (15 off 23), stitched together a 42-run stand for the third innings, to bring the batting innings of Madhya Pradesh on track in the high stakes encounter.
Atharva Ankolekar hit the winning runs for Mumbai in SMAT 2024 final
But after their dismissal in quick succession, MP captain Rajat Patidar took control of his team’s innings, scoring unbeaten 81 runs off just 40 balls with six fours and six sixes, taking down all comers with bat in hand. His partnerships with Venkatesh Iyer and Rahul Batham proved to be crucial for Madhya Pradesh to put up a par total of 174/8 in their allotted 20 overs despite the economical bowling spells from Shivam Dube and Atharva Ankolekar.
In the run chase, Mumbai lost the big wickets of Prithvi Shaw and captain Shreyas Iyer to Tripuresh Singh in the power play stage after they had smashed a maximum each in their innings. After that, Ajinkya Rahane (30 off 27) stitched together a 52-run stand for the third wicket alongside Suryakumar Yadav (48 off 35), to put Mumbai well on course to win the SMAT final for the second time in their history in three seasons.
But then, Mumbai lost three quick wickets, including Ajinkya Rahane, Suryakumar Yadav, and Shivam Dube, to give Madhya Pradesh a glimmer of hope in the high stakes game. However, it was soon extinguished as Atharva Ankolekar (16* off 6) and Suryansh Shedge (36* off 15) put up an unbeaten stand of 51 runs in double quick time with a flurry of sixes, to help Mumbai get across the finishing line, to secure the SMAT 2024 title victory.
