Veteran pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar claimed a triple-wicket maiden as Uttar Pradesh join a slim 10-run victory over Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (SMAT) group-stage fit towards Jharkhand on the Wankhede Stadium on Thursday. Chasing 161 for victory, Jharkhand seemed stable in patches, however Bhuvneshwar’s masterful swing derailed their chase. Bowling with the unused ball, the Meerut-born pacer conceded simply six runs in his first 3 overs. When he returned within the seventeenth over, Bhuvneshwar delivered a game-changing ultimate over, disregarding Robin Minz, Bal Krishna, and Vivek Anand Tiwari on consecutive deliveries to assert a sensational hat-trick. He completed with remarkable figures of 4-1-6-3, making sure Jharkhand fell shorten by means of 10 runs.
This was once Uttar Pradesh’s 5th win in seven suits, occasion this was once Jharkhand’s moment defeat in seven video games.
This efficiency caps off a historical SMAT season for Bhuvneshwar. Latter occasion, in Uttar Pradesh’s opening fit towards Delhi, he turned into the primary Indian pacer to achieve 300 T20 wickets, surpassing Jasprit Bumrah.
Bhuvneshwar has collected 90 T20I wickets between 2012 and 2022, making him Bharat’s second-highest wicket-taking pacer within the structure. He has 181 wickets in 176 SMAT suits in Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy.
Latter occasion, the ace seamer was once roped in by means of Royal Challengers Bengaluru on the IPL 2025 Mega Public sale for Rs 10.75 crore.
In the meantime, Skipper Abhishek Sharma equalled the document for the quickest T20 century by means of an Indian batter as he smashed a sensational 100 off simply 28 balls for Punjab within the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (SMAT) fit towards Meghalaya on the Niranjan Shah Stadium C on Thursday.
Along with his unbeaten innings of 106 off 29, laced with 11 maximums and 8 obstacles, Abhishek equalled the document for the quickest T20 century by means of an Indian batter with Gujarat’s Urvil Patel, who had smashed a 28-ball century towards Tripura previous on this match in Indore.
Chasing a tiny goal of 143, Abhishek raced to his half-century in simply 12 balls prior to achieving the historical milestone in simply 28 balls as Punjab chased indisposed the objective in simply 9.3 overs.
Abhishek’s sensational innings penniless his incline pocket within the match, as in his six earlier innings, he controlled 149 runs, crossing fifty handiest as soon as.
But even so his heroics with bat, Abhishek additionally calimed two wickets in his four-over quota then conceding 24 runs at an economic system of 6 as Punjab limited Meghalaya on 142-7 in 20 overs.
