Following a 69-run victory over Haryana in Pune on Thursday, Jharkhand won their first Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy thanks to a defiant century from out of favor India wicketkeeper-batter Ishan Kishan, who made a strong case for a T20I recall.
Kishan went on a six-hitting rampage, blasting ten maximums en route to a stunning 49-ball 101, as Jharkhand amassed a formidable 262/3.
Despite a valiant half-century from wicketkeeper-batter Yashvardhan Dalal (53), Jharkhand’s bowlers applied the brakes with regular wickets to bowl out Haryana for 193 as medium pacer Anukul Roy struck twice in his opening over.
Roy also hit 40 off 20 balls, as Jharkhand became the 12th state to win the top domestic T20 competition in the country.
Asked to bat first, the Jharkhand captain and Kumar Kushagra put up a pivotal 177-run partnership for the second wicket. Kushagra’s quick 81 off 38 deliveries was the ideal counterpoint, keeping the pressure on the Haryana bowlers.
Kishan’s century was his second in the competition. The 27-year-old topped the run charts with 517 runs from 10 innings at an incredible strike rate of 197.32. He has been in terrific form throughout the campaign.
With the national selectors scheduled to meet shortly to choose India’s T20I team for the forthcoming series against New Zealand and the T20 World Cup, the left-hander’s strong run of form comes at a perfect moment.
In addition to hitting eight fours, Kishan treated the Haryana attack with total contempt and reached his hundred with a stylish one-handed six over extra cover.
In the 15th over, Sumit Kumar finally clean bowled him, and Kushagra fell in the next over.
Anukul and Robin Minz’s late cameos (31 off 14) made sure Jharkhand ended on a strong note, reaching a total that was well out of Haryana’s reach.
The Haryana batsmen had to go all out to overhaul the formidable score, but their chase got off to a terrible start as they lost captain Ankit Kumar (0) and Ashish Siwach (0) in short succession, falling to 2/1.
In an effort to stabilize the innings, wicketkeeper-batter Dalal first scored 34 runs alongside starter Arsh Ranga (17) before forming a 67-run partnership with Nishant Sindhu (31).
However, Anukul disrupted Haryana’s chase by dismissing both set batters in the same over, turning the game decisively in Jharkhand’s favor.
