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Five fifty-plus scores in seven innings.
Three consecutive 80+ scores.
Highest run-getter in the competition with 432 runs.
There seems to be no stopping Ajinkya Rahane as the right-hander continued his scorching form in the 2024 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, hammering a thumping 56-ball 98 in the semi-final against Baroda at the Chinnaswamy Stadium on December 13 (Friday) to take Mumbai to the final.
In an extraordinary display of clean hitting, the veteran amassed a whopping 75% of his runs through boundaries, smashing 11 fours and five sixes.
He tore into the Baroda pacers, smashing 86 runs off 45 balls against the quicks, hammering 15 boundaries against the speedsters. The pick of the shots was a mammoth six he hit off Hardik Pandya, which went into the second tier of the Chinnaswamy Stadium.
A hundred from the bat of the veteran looked inevitable, but two away from a century with Mumbai needing one run to win the contest, Rahane perished agonizingly short of a well-deserved ton, skying a full delivery straight to the keeper.
But his efforts still helped Mumbai notch up a thumping win over Baroda, with the Shreyas Iyer-led side chasing down 159 with 16 balls and four wickets to spare.
Earlier in the contest, both the Pandya brothers failed with the bat as Baroda managed 158/7 in their 20 overs, with Shivalik Sharma top-scoring with 36*. Shardul Thakur had a forgettable day with the ball, nevertheless, conceding 46 runs off the four overs he bowled. Shardul bowled the 20th over and ended up leaking 19 runs, conceding three sixes.
Mumbai will take on either Madhya Pradesh or Delhi in the final on December 15 (Sunday).
(Image courtesy: PTI)
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