Jharkhand on Friday (December 12) scripted history by pulling off the highest successful run chase in Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy history, overhauling a massive target of 236 to beat Punjab by six wickets in their Super League Group A match on Friday.
The previous record was held by Mumbai, who chased down 230 runs against Andhra Pradesh last season.
The stage was set by Salil Arora’s breathtaking 125 off 45 balls, a counterattacking innings that rescued Punjab from 28 for 2 and powered them to an imposing 235 for 6. Arora brought up his hundred in just 39 balls, hammered nine fours and 11 sixes, and capped his knock by dismantling left-arm pacer Sushant Mishra in the final over.
With the IPL mini-auction around the corner and Arora listed in the Rs
30 lakh bracket, his performance would not have gone unnoticed by scouts, even as Prabhsimran Singh kept wickets on the day.
However, Jharkhand responded with fearless intent, led by Kumar Kushagra’s unbeaten 82, with skipper Ishan Kishan, Anukul Roy, and Pankaj Kumar providing explosive support to complete a landmark chase in just 18.1 overs.
Kushagra is also a wicketkeeper batter who already has an IPL contract. Considered one of the biggest prospects to come out of Jharkhand, in tune with their history of producing MS Dhoni and Kishan, he was signed by the Delhi Capitals in IPL 2024 for a whopping price of ₹7.2 crore.
However, that was an unstable team, and Kushagra himself didn’t make his opportunities count before moving at a cut-price to the Gujarat Titans in 2025. Here, he has been thriving.
“When I joined the Titans for the first time, their setup impressed me,” he recently told Sportstar. “I saw that even bowlers were allowed to bat at the nets for a couple of hours, and being a batter, I got to spend four to five hours in the nets, with good bowlers and proper wickets. So, that experience really helped me. I had regular conversations with Vikram (Solanki) Sir and Ashu (Ashish Nehra) Sir, and they guided me on how to approach things,” he said.
