[Watch] Rajat Patidar plays a captain's knock of 81* off 40 in the Mumbai vs Madhya Pradesh SMAT 2024-25 final

Madhya Pradesh captain Rajat Patidar continued his outstanding form, blasting a fiery half-century in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (SMAT) 2024 final against Mumbai on Sunday, December 15. The match is taking place at M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.

Mumbai won the toss and chose to bowl. Shardul Thakur made an immediate impact, claiming two quick wickets and dismissing both MP openers, Arpit Gaud (3) and Harsh Gawli (2), cheaply. Harpreet Singh Bhatia played a lackluster innings, scoring only 15 off 23 balls, while Subhranshu Senapati contributed 23 off 17 balls.

Rajat Patidar came in at number 5 and shared a 32-run partnership for the fifth wicket with Venkatesh Iyer (17 off nine balls). MP appeared to be losing their momentum as they lost half their side for just 86 runs. However, Patidar continued to dominate, reaching his fifty off a rapid 28 balls.

Here’s a video of Rajat Patidar's knock of 81* in the SMAT 2024 final:

The 31-year-old continued his aggressive approach, taking charge in the final two overs by hitting four sixes and one four. Patidar finished unbeaten on 81 off 40 balls, with six boundaries and as many sixes, as MP ended their innings at 174/8 in 20 overs.

He also moved up to second place in the SMAT 2024 run-scorer list, with 428 runs in nine innings, including five fifties.

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Mumbai lose Prithvi Shaw and Shreyas Iyer early in the chase

Chasing a target of 175 runs, Mumbai opener Prithvi Shaw broke the shackles on the third delivery of the second over, hitting a six off Tripuresh Singh. However, Singh responded quickly, removing the opener on the following ball for 10 off six deliveries.

The pacer then claimed his second wicket, dismissing Mumbai captain Shreyas Iyer for 16 off nine balls, while the tournament's leading run-scorer Ajinkya Rahane looked solid at the crease. At the time of writing, Mumbai were 50/2 after six overs, with Rahane (22) and Suryakumar Yadav (1) at the crease.