Kishan stars in Jharkhand's maiden SMAT title win against Haryana

Jharkhand created history on Thursday (Dec 18) by winning their maiden Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (SMAT) title, defeating Haryana by 69 runs in the final at the MCA Stadium in Pune. Captain Ishan Kishan led from the front with a brilliant century to power Jharkhand to a memorable victory. Batting first, Jharkhand got off to a poor start, losing Virat Singh in the very first over. However, Kishan and Kumar Kushagra steadied the innings and turned the game in Jharkhand’s favor with a strong partnership.

Ishan Kishan, who last played an international match back in Nov 2023, sent a strong message to the national selectors with a stunning performance in the final. He smashed a 45-ball hundred and dominated the Haryana bowlers, hitting the ball all around the ground with 10 sixes and six fours. He received good support from Kushagra, who played a quick knock of 81 runs from just 38 balls.

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With this century, Kishan became only the second player to score a century in a Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy final, after Punjab’s Amolpreet Singh. He also became the first captain to achieve this milestone and set a new record for the most sixes in an SMAT final innings.

Jharkhand’s innings gained further momentum towards the end, as Anukul Roy scored quick 40 not out off 20 balls and Robin Minz’s contributed unbeaten 31 off 14. Their late partnership helped Jharkhand post a massive total of 262 for three, the highest score ever in an SMAT final.

For Harayana, Anshul Kamboj (1/51), Sumit Kumar (1/41) and Samant Jakhar (1/62) picked one wicket each.

Chasing a target of 264, Haryana batters managed to score only 193 runs and lost the match by 69 runs. Their batting got off to a very poor start, as opener Ankit Kumar and Ashish Siwach dismissed for ducks in the very first over.

Yashvardhan Dalal made 53, while Nishant Sindhu added 31 to steady the innings for a while, but Sindhu was later dismissed by Anukul Roy. Samant Jakhar also contributed 38 runs in the end, but failed to provide victory to his team

For Jhakhand, Sushant Mishra (3/27) and Bal Krishna (3/38) picked up three wickets each. Anukul Roy (2/42) and Vikash Singh (2/30) also played key roles with the ball, taking two wickets apiece.

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This victory marks the first time Jharkhand has ever lifted the premier domestic T20 trophy, joining the elite list of Indian domestic champions. For Ishan Kishan, it was his fifth SMAT century, equaling the record for the most hundreds in the tournament and further proving his reputation as one of India’s most destructive white-ball batters

With inputs from agencies