The Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy has been held at the perfect time for the players to showcase their form ahead of the mega IPL Auction on 27 and 28 January. Delhi’s Rishabh Pant has been the top-scorer in the tournament so far with 398 runs and Rajasthan’s Deepak Chahar is the highest wicket-taker with 19 wickets at the moment.
The Delhi team has already booked a place in Friday’s final, while two fixtures – Punjab vs Rajasthan and Karnataka vs Mumbai are scheduled to be played on Thursday.
Here’s a look at the top seven performances in the tournament so far.
1. Rishabh Pant – 116* vs Himachal Pradesh
Delhi’s Rishabh Pant scored the fastest century by an Indian in T20 history in the match against Himachal Pradesh. Pant brought up his hundred in just 32 balls, falling short of the fastest century in T20 history by 2 balls (Chris Gayle’s record).
While chasing a meagre total of 144/8, Pant smashed 116 runs in just 38 balls, which included 8 boundaries and 12 sixes. The 20-year-old, who was recently sacked as Delhi’s captain, needed only 53 minutes for his innings.
Delhi won the match by 10 wickets.
2. Deepak Chahar – 5/15 vs Karnataka
Rajasthan managed a relatively low total of 160/8 after they were put into bat. Deepak Chahar put his hand up and single-handedly dismantled the middle order. He picked up the wickets of Ravikumar Samarth, Abhimanyu Mithun, Chidhambaram Gautam and Stuart Binny and reduced Karnataka to 24/5.
Eventually, Karnataka were all out for 138 runs and lost the match by 22 runs.
3. Suresh Raina – 126* vs Bengal
One of India’s best limited-overs batsman at one point, Suresh Raina played a blistering knock against Bengal. The Uttar Pradesh cricketer smashed 126 runs off 59 balls in the T20 match. Raina reached his century in just 49 deliveries.
Bengal used as many as seven bowlers but none of them could find a way to stop the carnage. The 31-year-old struck 13 boundaries and 7 sixes during his unbeaten innings.
Uttar Pradesh convincingly won the match by 75 runs.
4. Kedar Devdhar – 100 vs Gujarat
Baroda’s Kedar Devdhar played a Karun Nair-like innings against Gujarat. The 28-year-old struck 100 runs off 61 balls, while the next best score in his team was 44 by Swapnil Singh. Only one other batsman managed to notch a score in double digits.
Devdhar smacked 11 boundaries and 4 sixes in his innings, helping Baroda to post a total of 175/7. Baroda won the match by 37 runs.
5. Karun Nair – 111 vs Tamil Nadu
While opening the batting, Karun Nair single-handedly helped Karnataka post a total of 179/9. The next best score in the team was 19 by Ravikumar Samarth. On three batsmen scored runs in double digits in the entire innings.
As wickets tumbled around him, Karun Nair smashed 111 runs off 52 balls. His innings included 8 boundaries and 8 sixes.
Karnataka eventually won the match by 78 runs.
6. Krishnamoorthy Vignesh – 5/25 vs Kerala
After being put to bat, Tamil Nadu posted a daunting total of 184/4 in their quota of 20 overs. The bowling attack led by Krishnamoorthy Vignesh wasn’t certainly going to let the Kerala team get away with a win.
Vignesh decimated the top order, picking up wickets of Sanju Samson, Vishnu Vinod and Rohan Prem. Kerala were reduced to 11/3. Thereafter, Kerala couldn’t find the momentum in the match and eventually lost by 35 runs.
7. Karun Nair – 100 vs Jharkhand
Karnataka’s Karun Nair scored another blistering century, against Jharkhand. This time, Pavan Deshpande provided great support with an innings of 56 runs. The duo strung a partnership of 130 runs.
Nair’s 100 off 52 balls propelled Karnataka to a huge total of 201/4. The 26-year-old struck 8 boundaries and 7 sixes during his innings.
In reply, Jharkhand were bundled out for 78 runs.
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