Shedge, Suryakumar power Mumbai to Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy glory
Written by I Dig SportsMumbai 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
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.