Mumbai off to flourishing start in SMAT, beat Railways by 7 wickets

Lucknow, Nov 26 (PTI) Defending champions Mumbai made a confident start to their Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy campaign, defeating Railways by seven wickets, with India players Ajinkya Rahane and Suryakumar Yadav making vital contributions in a Group A match here on Wednesday.

Chasing a below-average score of 158 for 5 in 20 overs, Mumbai had little trouble overhauling it with Rahane clobbering a 33-ball 62, studded with four boundaries and five sixes, at the top to help the star-studded side finish the chase with 25 balls to spare.

India’s T20 skipper Suryakumar, who shared a 51-run stand with Rahane for the second wicket, struck an equally belligerent 30-ball 47 on his return to the field after a 2-1 away series win against Australia in the five-match

T20 series earlier this month.

Railways, led by former India player Karn Sharma, were off to a poor start, losing their openers for just 19 runs before former India-U19 player and first-class stalwart Mohammad Saif brought some stability with a well-made 48 in the company of young Ravi Singh (26 off 19 balls) and Ashutosh Sharma (61 off 30 balls).

In fact, after Saif departed with Railways still in trouble at 113/4, it was Sharma who gave a mighty push by smashing seven boundaries and three maximums to give some respectability to the score.

Sharma, who holds the record for the fastest T20 fifty by an Indian while playing for Railways in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy and was picked by Delhi Capitals for the IPL 2025 season for his big hitting, struck at a rate of nearly 204, making the Mumbai bowlers, led by skipper Shardul Thakur, look pedestrian.

Thakur (1/15) and Shivam Dube (1/11) got a wicket each.

Mumbai never looked in trouble after they got a strong start, thanks to Rahane, who did bulk of the scoring, and Ayush Mhatre (18).

By the time Rahane departed, Mumbai were in the driver’s seat at 113/2 and needing just a nudge to get past the rivals’ total, which was provided by Suryakumar, who is likely to play most of the SMAT matches to fine-tune his skills for the five-match T20I series against South Africa next month.

Chhattisgarh managed to defend a paltry 133 thanks to their bowlers, especially right-arm pacer Sourabh Majumdar who took three wickets, as they defeated powerhouse Vidarbha by 27 runs.

Brief scores: In Lucknow: Railways 158 for 5 in 20 overs (Mohammad Saif 48, Ashutosh Sharma 61; Shardul Thakur 1/15, Shivam Dube 1/11) lost to Mumbai 159 for 3 in 15.5 overs (Ajinkya Rahane 62, 47; Rahul Sharma 2/43) by 7 wickets.

In Lucknow: Chhattisgarh 133 for 9 in 20 overs (Shashank Singh 34; Yash Thakur 3/25, Harsh Dubey 2/13) beat Vidarbha 106 in 19.1 overs (Sourabh Majumdar 3/23, Shubham Agarwal 2/13, Ravi Kiran 2/10) by 27 runs. PTI AM AM ATK