Skipper Suryakumar Yadav blazed his way to an unbeaten 94 as Mumbai defeated Karnataka by seven wickets in a Group ‘B’ Super League match of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy on Monday to end the rival’s winning spree.
Mumbai were chasing a stiff 172-run target and Surya, who has been in great form, single-handedly guided the domestic giants to victory with an over to spare.
Surya (94 not out off 53 balls, 11 fours, 4 sixes) walked in to bat after Mumbai were in a spot of bother at 44 for 2, losing openers Aditya Tare (12) and Prithvi Shaw (30) and still needing over 100 runs to win.
The aggressive right-hander steadied the ship by stitching together a 46-run stand with Shreyas Iyer (14) for the third wicket.
However, Karnataka pegged Mumbai back by removing Iyer in the 11th over.
After Iyer departed, it was ‘Surya show’ at the C B Patel Ground as he toyed with the Karnataka bowlers, who wilted under his blistering attack.
He hammered 11 fours and hoisted four towering sixes to stamp his class. His 53-ball 94 would have surely impressed the national selectors.
The Mumbai captain then strung together a match- winning unbeaten 84-run stand for the fourth wicket with Shivam Dube (22 not out off 18 balls), who played the perfect second fiddle.
Surya 2.0 was on display as he had all shots in the book and smashed the ball around to guide his side home. This was perhaps one of the finest knocks in the national T20 championship.
Earlier, put into bat, Karnataka posted a healthy 171 for 6 despite losing in-form players K L Rahul (0) and skipper Manish Pandey (4) early.
A strokeful 57 off 34 balls by opener Devdutt Padikkal, who struck four fours and as many sixes, along with a rearguard 71 off just 47 balls by Rohan helped Karnataka post a descent score on the board.
Kadam was also all guns blazing as he hit seven fours and three sixes before falling to a catch by Prithvi Shaw off Shardul Thakur.
For Mumbai, pacers Shardul Thakur (2-29), Shivam Dube (2-39) and left-arm spinner Shams Mulani (1-8) shared the spoils.
This was Karnataka’s first defeat in the Super League stage, and Mumbai’s win has opened up things in the group.
Later, Surya, who is eyeing a national berth, said he was doing what was in his hands.
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