Syed Mushtaq Ali T20: Suryakumar Yadav rises in the West!

Mumbai's Suryakumar Yadav in full flow against Puducherry at Wankhede yesterday. Pic/ Suresh Karkera

Mumbai registered their fourth successive win in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy T20 tournament, beating Puducherry by 27 runs in a Group 'D' league fixture at the Wankhede Stadium on Tuesday. They have skipper Suryakumar Yadav to thank for his 37-ball 57. Unlike their first three wins in the tournament that came about chasing, this time the hosts defended a total, 171 for six.

Dogra's fighting 45

For Puducherry, veteran Paras Dogra (45 runs off 35 balls) and Subramanian Anand (39 off 31) made significant contributions but it wasn't enough in the end. Dogra and Anand began well though and capitalised on some loose medium pace deliveries from India all-rounder Shivam Dube (1-21), both hitting him for a six each, extracting 16 runs in the 11th over. After 12 overs, both teams were neck to neck - Puducherry on 90-3, while Mumbai were 93-2 in as many overs. Dogra, a former Himachal Pradesh captain, then did well to step out and dispatch medium pacer Shubham Ranjane over the long off fence in the next over. However, the equation changed completely when pacer Tushar Deshpande (2-29) got rid of Dogra - a short ball saw him play it uppishly to be caught by Shardul Thakur in the covers (14th over). Dogra's departure also broke his fourth-wicket stand of 51 off 33 balls with Anand. Left-arm spinner Shams Mulani was also effective with 2-25.

Udeshi, Trivedi excel

Earlier, after deciding to bowl, Puducherry's two Sagars - Trivedi and Udeshi - both Mumbai boys, played pivotal role in restricting the opposition to 171. Pacer Trivedi, who played the Vijay Hazare Trophy and Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy for Mumbai in 2015, bowled brilliantly to claim 4-29, which included the three crucial scalps of Yadav, Siddhesh Lad (22-ball 39) and Dube (four). Udeshi, on the other hand, gave away only 17 runs in his four overs as he restricted the Mumbai batsmen with his tight line and length. Skipper Yadav, however, had already done the bulk of the damage before he exited in the 20th over. His knock was laced with six boundaries and two sixes.

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