Patidar whirlwind blows Delhi away, MP in final

The bucket seats at the Chinnaswamy Stadium must still be hurting. After endless shouts of "RCB, RCB" to hail their IPL hero, the throats of those present in the stands at the ground might be paining even after they are back home. Rajat Patidar dispatched one six after the other in all directions against Delhi, and took Madhya Pradesh to their first Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy final since 2010-11.

MP were 46 for 3 in the seventh over of their chase of 147, and that is when Patidar joined Harpreet Singh in the middle. Together they ensured that the required run rate never went out of reach despite the early wickets. Harpreet swept legspinner Suyash Sharma for four to short fine leg in the eighth over, before Patidar launched his first six by pulling medium-pacer Himanshu Chauhan over square leg in the ninth.

Patidar then went after offspinner Mayank Rawat, whom he flung for six over deep midwicket. Both batters continued to ease their way through the middle overs, and with only another 55 runs required from the remaining eight overs, decided to go for the kill. Harpreet drove left-arm spinner Harsh Tyagi for four to deep extra cover, while Patidar swatted for four, heaved for six and lofted for four more to take 19 off the same bowler.

Patidar got to his half-century, off 23 balls, next over with the second of consecutive sixes off Suyash, as the ball flew over the square-leg boundary. He and Harpreet then smashed Prince Yadav for 18, with two shots from Patidar standing out: the first one a lofted punch for four over mid-off, and the other a swivel-pull for six over short fine leg.

Harpreet ended the game by belting a six over long-on, and finishing unbeaten on 46, with Player-of-the-Match Patidar cracking 66* off just 29 deliveries. The chase was done with 26 balls to spare after Delhi struggled to get going despite getting off to a quick start. Priyansh Arya led the effort by smashing 20 out of the 28 runs in the first three overs, but the MP bowlers checked Delhi's flow after that.

Venkatesh Iyer struck twice in the 12th over to dismiss Ayush Badoni and Himmat Singh, after Arya fell for 29 to Kumar Kartikeya, and Yash Dhull's scrap was ended by Tripuresh Singh. But Anuj Rawat and Mayank Rawat got down for the repair job. They took their time in adding 43, before Avesh Khan had Mayank slicing to extra cover for a 21-ball 24.

Anuj, though, took charge in the final two overs, and clubbed three boundaries to score 33*. That pushed Delhi to 146, but Patidar made that middling total look ordinary to book a meeting with Mumbai in the final.