Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2022 Final Match Report: Mumbai beat Himachal Pradesh to lift the trophy

Mumbai, thanks to this win, have now won the title for the first time in Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy's history since it began back in the year 2006. The final turned out to be a highly intense encounter with Mumbai edging past Himachal Pradesh narrowly to achieve a famous win.

Mumbai won the toss and was elected to field first in the final. Himachal had a terrible start to their innings as their innings was held aback by early blows right from the early stages. The opening spell of Tanush Kotian and Mohit Avasthi had the batters struggling on each and every delivery from the powerplay overs itself. Such was the brilliance of the bowlers that Himachal had half their side back into the hut with the total having just crossed the 50-run mark. 

With the well-set Prashant Chopra too being dismissed for a 27-ball 19, Himachal's hopes of being able to get to a respectable total started to dwindle. It was at this moment that Akash Vasishth and Ekant sen came to their side's rescue with a magnificent partnership. The duo added 60 runs for the 7th wicket in quick time to help the side reach the 120 mark. Some lower-order hitting from Mayank Dagar saw Himachal get to 143/8 in 20 overs.

Mumbai too didn't have the perfect start to their run chase of 144. Rishi Dhawan made sure that his side started strong with the ball in the second innings as he removed both the openers inside the powerplay. Mumbai was able to prevent the fall any more quick wickets to ensure they were in the game, but the rising required run rate was always becoming a reason of concern for the chasing side. The pressure of the total soon had the better of the set batsmen who weren't able to find the big shots often and ended up throwing away their wicket in haste.

Vaibhav Arora emerged as the most effective bowler for his side in the game as he proved to be highly impactful with his economical spell which included invaluable wickets of multiple set batsmen. Regular wickets towards the later half of the innings too however didn't prove to be enough for Himachal to initiate a miraculous turnaround.?

Some excellent needed big hitting from a well-set Sarfaraz Khan in the penultimate over with 23 needed off the last 2 overs saw Mumbai strengthen their grip over the game once again. Mumbai cruised to a narrow win in the end with 3 wickets remaining and as many balls to spare. Tanush Kotian was adjudged the man of the match for his match-winning spell of 3/15 with the ball.

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