Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy: Suryakumar special powers Mumbai to victory against Karnataka

Suryakumar Yadav conjured a magical knock off 94* off 53 balls to power his side to victory against Karnataka by 7 wickets in a Group B encounter of the Super League of the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 competition. The right-hander showcased his vast array of strokes to cart the bowlers all around the park and make a seemingly tricky target seem easy.

After winning the toss, Mumbai elected to field and they drew first blood when Shams Mulani outfoxed KL Rahul on the second delivery of the innings. Thereafter, Shardul Thakur sent Manish Pandey packing before Shivam Dube dismissed Karun Nair in the 5th over, thereby throwing Karnataka’s batting essay into turmoil.

However, Devdutt Padikkal and Rohan Kadam dug deep into their batting reserves and unfurled gritty knocks to help Karnataka post a decent total of 171 on the board.

For Mumbai, Shardul was the pick of the bowlers as he returned with figures of 4-0-29-2 whereas Shivam also bagged a couple of wickets.

In reply, Mumbai were jolted early when Aditya Tare perished to Ronit More on the final ball of the 2nd over. However, Prithvi Shaw continued his wonderful form to help Mumbai keep up with the scoring rate. But, there was another twist in the PowerPlay tale when Shaw got out to Praveen Dubey in the 5th over.

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Suryakumar joined Shreyas Iyer at the wicket as the pair attempted to consolidate before trying to up the ante. While the former got into his stride instantly, the latter again looked slightly scratchy as he departed after playing a strange knock of 14 off 20 deliveries.

Yet, that didn’t deter the Mumbai skipper as he continued on his merry way, pulling out several innovative shots to leave the Karnataka bowlers clueless. With 32 required off the final three overs, he ransacked 16 runs off Ronit More in the 18th over, which consisted of a sumptuous ramp shot and another equally impressive back foot punch over covers for four.

Eventually, Shivam hammered the final nail into the Karnataka coffin when he dispatched Abhimanyu Mithun over wide long-off for a six in the penultimate over. Suryakumar finished off the match in style when he carved a wide delivery over point to complete the victory.

The win allowed Mumbai to stay in touch at the top of the Group B table, with them now having won 2 of their 3 encounters. Karnataka, meanwhile, tasted their first defeat in the Super League stage on Monday.