Syed Mushtaq Ali T20: Sarfaraz Khan, Tanush Kotian star in thriller as Mumbai clinch elusive title

Mumbai got their hands on the elusive domestic men’s T20 crown when they defeated Himachal Pradesh by 4 wickets in a thrilling final of the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 Trophy at the Eden Garden in Kolkata on Saturday.

Sarfaraz Khan (36*) built upon his strong domestic season and turned around his rather quiet knockout stage with a big role in Mumbai’s famous win over Himachal Pradesh.

Himachal Pradesh skipper Rishi Dhawan (2/26) ensured Mumbai lost openers Prithvi Shaw (11) and captain Ajinkya Rahane (1) rather early. However, they were powered by a Shreyas Iyer’s 26-ball 35 and the 47-run partnership with Yashasvi Jaiswal (27) and subsequently, the 27-run stand with Sarfaraz Khan that ensured Mumbai had a base to chase it down.

The game, however, was closer than Mumbai would have liked as Vaibhav Arora’s (3/27) final over produced a lot of drama. He took two wickets, dismissing both Shivam Dube and Aman Khan and putting Sarfaraz under tremendous pressure.

Shams Mulani (2) also succumbed to the pressure created as he ended up giving his wicket to Mayank Dagar in the next over, leaving Mumbai in trouble at 119/7 and 25 needed off 14 balls. Sarfaraz was dropped on 19 by KD Singh off Mayank Dagar’s bowling and that proved to be an opportunity lost for Himachal Pradesh. He hit a six and four off the last two balls of the 19th over to all but seal the win for his side.

Eventually, it was the final hit by Tanush Kotian (9) who had a brilliant outing with the ball as well (3/15), that sealed the victory.

Mumbai had lost out to Madhya Pradesh in a memorable Ranji Trophy final earlier this year but with this win, their domestic season starts on a good note, this time around.

Earlier in the match, having won the toss, Mumbai asked Himachal Pradesh to bat first. The Dhawan-led side had an underwhelming start with opener Ankush Bains (4) and number three batter Sumeet Verma (8) being dismissed early in the powerplay.

Nikhil Gangta (22), Nitin Sharma (0) and Rishi Dhawan (1) were all out soon after and opener Prashant Chopra’s (19) dismissal in the 10th over left them reeling at 58/6. Fortunately for them, Ekant Sen, Ashish Vasisht and Mayank Dagar put up a good fight in the end to add 70 crucial runs to the total get the innings back on track.

Kotian (3/15) struck three times in the middle overs to seriously dent Himachal Pradesh’s chances, he was ably supported by Mohit Avasthi who returned with figures 3/21 for Mumbai.

Here’s a look at the list of winners of the tournament:

Scoreboards courtesy BCCI.tv