Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy: Punjab became champion for the first time, defeated Baroda by 20 runs in the final

Punjab won the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy title for the first time by defeating Baroda by 20 runs. Earlier, Punjab had played four finals in the history of the tournament and had lost all four times. Punjab's Anmolpreet Singh scored a century in 58 balls at the Punjab Cricket Association Stadium on Monday. He scored 113 runs in 61 balls with the help of 10 fours and six sixes. Due to his century, Punjab made the highest ever score of 223 runs for four wickets in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy final.

This was the highest score by a Punjab batsman in a Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy final and the fourth highest score overall in the tournament. The record of scoring the highest score from the state in the tournament is in the name of Shubman Gill.

Anmolpreet came in to bat at 18 for two and initially carried the innings with captain Mandeep Singh and put on a 62-run partnership before Krunal Pandya dismissed Mandeep, whose unsuccessful reverse sweep was caught by Atit Seth. .

This was when Punjab had their most important partnership, as Anmolpreet along with Nehal Wadhera put 138 runs on the board, surpassing the previous record score of 180 for five by Karnataka in the final against Tamil Nadu in 2019-20 . Nehal also scored 61 runs on 27 balls.

Baroda captain Krunal Pandya won the toss and decided to bowl first. Punjab made a big score of 223 runs for four wickets in 20 overs. Anmol hit 10 fours and 6 sixes in his innings of 61 balls, while Nehal hit six fours and four brilliant sixes in his innings of 27 balls. At one time Punjab's two wickets had fallen at 18 and three wickets at 80 runs. But Anmol and Nehal made a partnership of 138 runs for the fourth wicket and took the team to a big score. For Baroda, Krunal Pandya, Soyab and Atit got one wicket each. In reply, due to the brilliant bowling of fast bowler Arshdeep Singh (4/23), Punjab won by restricting Baroda to 203 runs for seven wickets in 20 overs. Arshdeep turned the match in his team's favor by taking three wickets in the 19th over. Abhimanyu Singh Rajput (61) scored the most runs for Baroda.