In an encounter on Thursday with Sikkim in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, Baroda made headlines by posting the highest team total ever in T20 cricket. Baroda totalled a mammoth 349 runs losing five wickets and broke Zimbabwe’s previous record of 344/4 against Gambia in October 2024. This was the first time in the history of the SMAT that any side scored above 300, as the previous highest score was 275/6 made by Punjab. This apparent record-studded total was made without the services of Hardik Pandya in the squad and with captain Krunal Pandya not getting a chance to bat.
Batting first, Baroda has a tremendous start courtesy of Shashwat Rawat and Abhimanyu Singh who put up 92 runs for the opening stand. Shashwat hammered 43 off just 16 balls while Abhimanyu completed his half-century with 53 from 17 deliveries.
Bhanu Pania made use of this wonderful platform by scoring an unbeaten 134 runs in 51 balls, knocking 5 fours and 15 sixes. The largest display of pure power came to a close with a strike rate of 262.75 as he retrieved his innings. Sikkim bowlers nearly wilt against that bombardment.
That wasn’t all, as Shivalik Sharma scored a monumental 55 runs off just 17 balls while Vishnu Solanki made a 50 off just 16 deliveries, making Baroda score a phenomenal 349 and establish a big record in the shortest format of the game.
Before this, India’s T20 captain Suryakumar Yadav first hit 70 off 46 balls in the ongoing 2024 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy while Shivam Dube completed his spectacular return from a three-month long injury lay-off by hitting 71 off 37 balls as Mumbai beat Services by 39 runs.
Mumbai rode on the fourth wicket partnership of Surya and Dube, posting 192 runs for 4 wickets.
The two men struck 11 maximums between them, with little left for Dube. There were seven boundaries hit by Surya while Dube had a couple of fours to his credit. Most of Surya’s hits were on the onside, few long-ones and mid-wicket region with one behind square.
Both batters were severe on Nitin Tanwar who went for 54 runs in his four overs as forecast ahead.
Services made a reply, getting bowled out for 153 in 19.3 overs with Shardul Thakur making amends with figures of 4/25. Left arm spinner Shams Mulani also chipped in with three wickets. Dube walked away with the Player of the match award after, besides his batting performance, he also managed to take a wicket in this too.