The Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, India’s domestic T20 competition, got underway in several parts of the country on Thursday. The 37 teams who compete in the Indian domestic circuit have been divided into five different groups and the tournament will be played over two stages – the league stage and the super league stage – before the top two teams in the Super League clash in the tournament final.
Here’s a few of the highlights from the matches played on the opening day of the tournament:
1. Cheteshwar Pujara Scores His & Saurashtra’s Maiden T20 Century
Pujara slammed an unbeaten 61-ball 100 against Railways at the Holkar Stadium in Indore.
Opening the innings for his state team, the 31-year old made an even 100 to power Saurashtra to 188/3. That turned out to be insufficient though, as Railways chased down the runs in 19.4 overs to win by five wickets.
2. Shreyas Iyer Scores 154, Powers Mumbai to 258-4
Shreyas Iyer got stuck into debutants Sikkim and helped himself to 147 – the highest score by an Indian batsman in T20 cricket.
24-year-old Shreyas brought up his half-century off 24 balls and needed only 14 more deliveries to reach his maiden hundred in T20 cricket.
He surpassed the record of Rishabh Pant, who had scored an unbeaten 128 for Delhi Daredevils. His 147 is also the 12th highest score by a batsman in the T20 cricket history.
Iyer struck 7 fours, and the 15 sixes he hit in his knock were the most hit by an Indian batsman in an innings in T20 cricket.
Shreyas found a good ally at the other end in Suryakumar Yadav; the pair added 213 runs – which would be the highest partnership for the third wicket and the 4th biggest partnership overall in T20 cricket
3. Bengal Seals ‘Biggest’ Win
Elsewhere in the country, at the Barabati Stadium in Cuttack, Bengal, riding on the back of Abhimanyu Easwaran’s unbeaten 107 posted 221-4 and then bundled out opponents Mizoram for 62. The margin of Bengal’s win – 159 runs – would be the biggest margin by which a team had won a T20 match in India.
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