SMAT 2023: Anmolpreet Singh, Arshdeep Singh guide Punjab to maiden Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy title
Punjab outplayed two-time champions Baroda to lift their maiden Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy in front of a home crowd at the PCA IS Bindra Stadium in Mohali on Monday, November 6.
Baroda needed 66 runs from the last four overs with eight wickets in hand. It wasn't an improbable task, given the fact that their counterparts slammed 77 runs in the same period to post a mammoth score of 223/4.
Abhimanyusingh Rajput, who put on 71 runs with Ninad Rathva (47 off 22 balls) for the second wicket, looked to anchor the chase along with his skipper Krunal Pandya. In the 14th over of the chase, Abhimanyusingh clobbered three successive sixes off Mayank Markande's bowling to complete his maiden fifty in T20 cricket.
Punjab captain Mandeep Singh turned to Arshdeep Singh, who conceded just 10 runs in his first two overs, to bowl the 17th over. Although the left-arm quick was hit for a boundary on the third ball by Abhimanyusingh, he responded with a wicket off the next delivery.
The Baroda No.3 sliced the full-pitched ball outside the off-stump towards Sanvir Singh, who was stationed at backward point. Abhimanyusingh departed after scoring 61 off 42 balls.
Wicketkeeper-batter Vishnu Solanki came to the crease and smashed 24 runs in the 18th over by Siddharth Kaul - hammering three fours and a couple of sixes - to drop the equation to 33 runs from 12 balls.
Arshdeep dismissed Krunal and Shivalik Sharma with his first two legal deliveries in the penultimate over before adding Bhanu Pania's scalp to finish with impressive figures of 4 for 23. The 24-year-old made full use of his international experience and delivered a match-winning spell.
Vishnu lost his wicket in the final over after a dot off the first ball and a couple of runs off the second. Despite getting hit for a six, Harpreet Brar bowled two consecutive dots in the last two deliveries to etch Punjab's name as the 11th distinguished winner of SMAT.
Anmolpreet Singh's century guided Punjab to 223 in the first innings
Punjab were invited to bat first by Krunal Pandya, given the dew that would make batting easier in the second innings. Punjab lost Abhishek Sharma for a golden duck and Prabhsimran Singh added just nine runs from seven balls in the summit clash.
A splendid century from Anmolpreet Singh (113 off 61 balls, laced with 10 fours and six maximums) followed by Nehal Wadhera's explosive hitting (61 runs off 27 balls) propelled Punjab past 200. Punjab scored 84 runs in the last five overs while Anmolpreet and Nehal added 138 runs for the fourth wicket.
Anmolpreet became the first centurion in a SMAT final and Punjab also registered the highest team total in the same.
Punjab had played four finals in the past 15 editions of India's premier domestic T20 competition, only to finish as the runner-ups on every occasion. They also suffered an eight-run defeat against Baroda in the 2012 final.