Ishan Kishan leads Jharkhand to a memorable maiden triumph

Ishan Kishan, who offered glimpses of his brilliance throughout the tournament, saved his best for last.

Leading from the front, he toyed with the Haryana bowlers to score a 49-ball 101 and eventually guided Jharkhand to its maiden Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy title with a 69-run victory.

As fans turned up in large numbers at the MCA Stadium on Thursday, Kishan entertained them with his aggressive batting, hitting Haryana bowlers all around the park.

Despite losing opener Virat Singh early, Kishan made optimum use of a flat deck and unsettled the Haryana bowlers from the start.

Along the way, he forged a 177-run partnership with the young Kumar Kushagra (81, 38b, 8×4, 5×6) as Jharkhand put up 262 for three in its 20 overs.

With an objective to score as many runs as possible in the PowerPlay, both Kishan and Kushagra dealt in fours and sixes as Jharkhand racked up 69 runs in six overs.

Mauling Kamboj

Serving a timely reminder to the national selectors, who are likely to pick India’s T20 World Cup squad on Saturday, Kishan accelerated with a couple of sixes off Parth Vats, before going after Anshul Kamboj. He hit the pacer for a couple of boundaries and a one-handed six over cover in the 14th over to become only the second batter, after Anmolpreet Singh, to score a century in the final of the SMAT.

Though Sumit Kumar knocked him over with a yorker in the next over, and Kushagra, too, fell shortly, Jharkhand was already near the 200-run mark.

As Haryana dropped quite a few catches, Anukul Roy and Robin Minz’s unbroken 75-run stand for the third wicket ensured that Jharkhand scored the highest-ever total in the final of the tournament.

Pursuing a mammoth total, Haryana was never in the game. Ankit Kumar, who had a dream run in the tournament, fell to seamer Vikash Singh for a duck on the third ball of the innings, while Ashish Siwach was dismissed for a solitary run.

Haryana couldn’t recover and lost wickets in clusters. Nishant Sindhu and Yashvardhan Dalal added 67 runs for the fourth wicket, before left-arm spinner Anukul removed both. With that, Haryana’s hopes were dashed.

The scores: Jharkhand 262/3 in 20 overs (Ishan Kishan 101, Kumar Kushagra 81) bt Haryana 193 in 18.3 overs (Yashvardhan Dalal 53, Samant Jakhar 38, Sushant Mishra 3/21). PoM: Kishan; PoS: Anukul Roy.