Punjab beat Baroda to secure their first-ever SMAT title: Stats
What's the story
Punjab defeated Baroda by 20 runs to secure their first-ever Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy title on Monday at the Punjab Cricket Association Stadium.
Anmolpreet Singh's fantastic 113-run knock and Arshdeep Singh's brilliant 4/23 guided the hosts to their elusive title.
Chasing 224, Baroda gave some fight but eventually lost their way in the slog overs and were restricted to 203/7.
Here's more.
Summary
How did the match pan out?
Batting first, Punjab were off to a horrible start as they were reeling at 18/2 from 3.2 overs. However, a fiery century from Anmolpreet and a fifty from Nehal Wadhera helped Punjab post a total of 223/4.
In reply, Baroda had a poor start, but despite contributions from Abhimanyu Rajput, Ninad Ratva, Krunal Pandya and Vishnu Solanki, they fell short by 20 runs.
Anmolpreet
Maiden T20 century for Anmolpreet
Anmolpreet came to the crease when Punjab were 18/2 and stitched a 62-run partnership with Mandeep Singh to steady the ship. Later, he added 138 runs with Wadhera to take the score beyond the 200-run mark.
He brought up his maiden T20 century in 58 deliveries. His 61-ball 113 was laced with 10 fours and 10 maximums.
Anmolpreet owns 1,199 runs in 63 T20s.
Anmolpreet
Anmolpreet completes 1,000 runs in SMAT
Courtesy of his ton, Anmolpreet completed 1,000 runs in SMAT. He has tallied 1,065 runs in 56 matches in the tournament with an average of 27.30.
Apart from his century, he owns six fifties in the tournament. He also owns a decent strike rate of 130.19.
Anmolpreet is only the second Punjab batter to slam a ton in SMAT this season after Abhishek Sharma.
Nehal Wadhera
A blazing knock from Wadhera
Wadhera batted with a lot of positivity as he hammered a 27-ball 61. He took the Baroda bowling attack to the cleaners with six boundaries and four sixes.
He was the one who started playing his shots, which gave more confidence to Anmolpreet in their match-winning partnership.
Nehal has amassed 416 runs in 21 T20s while slamming his fourth fifty in this format.
Abhimanyusingh Rajput
A fighting hand from Abhimanyu
Baroda lost Jyotsnil Singh early, and from there, Rathva and Abhimanyu batted well. They added 70 runs together before the former was dismissed. Later, he added an 88-run partnership with Krunal.
The 25-year-old cricketer slammed his maiden T20 fifty. He played a fighting hand of 42-ball 61 laced with four sixes and three fours.
Overall, Abhimanyu owns 195 runs from 17 T20 matches.
Information
Rathva and Krunal played crucial knocks
Rathva slammed a 22-ball 47 while Krunal hammered a 32-ball 45, but none could make it big to help Baroda win the clash. Rathva slapped five fours and three sixes, while Krunal smashed three fours and a six.
Arshdeep Singh
A fantastic spell from Arshdeep Singh
Arshdeep bowled beautifully in the slog overs. The pacer finished with figures of 4/23 from his four overs where the other bowlers had an economy of over eight at least.
He removed Abhimanyu first in the 17th over followed by the wickets of Krunal and Shivalik Sharma.
Later, he also dismissed Bhanu Pania.
He has scalped 137 wickets in 110 T20 matches.
Information
Highest ever total in SMAT final
Punjab's 223/4 is the highest-ever total in the SMAT final history. Earlier in the tournament, they amassed a total of 275/6 against Andhra, which is the highest total recorded by an Indian T20 team. Anmolpreet hammered a 26-ball 87 in that match.