SMAT |  Abhishek blitzkrieg sets up Punjab’s facile victory over Bengal

Form is temporary, class is permanent. It’s a cheesy adage, but it always finds a way to be relevant in the madness that is cricket. Ask Abhishek Sharma.

With 10 runs across two Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy matches, including a duck in the Super Over, runs had been hard to come by for the 25-year-old. But, on a cold Sunday morning here, Abhishek took little time to set the turf on fire at the Gymkhana Ground, transcending Punjab’s clash with Bengal into a cinematic melodrama.

In ‘home’ conditions, Abhishek schooled the Bengal bowlers, including his former Sunrisers Hyderabad teammate Mohammed Shami. He brought up his 50 off 12 balls and 100 of 32, before falling just short of 150 (148, 52b, 8×4, 16×6), his blitz helping Punjab become the first team to cross the 300-run mark in T20s in the City of Pearls.

Abhishek was ably supported by Prabhsimran Singh (70, 35b, 8×4, 4×6), their 205-run stand, the highest by an opening pair in SMAT, fuelled an already raucous crowd, forcing the deployment of additional security.

Abhimanyu Easwaran was the lone bright spot in a Bengal chase where its batters looked befuddled. Punjab plucked wickets from the other end as easily as snatching candy from a toddler, with eight batters falling for single-digit scores. Easwaran’s lone battle, meanwhile, saw him finish with an unbeaten 130 (66 balls, 13×4, 8×6), but he couldn’t save his side from a 112-run drubbing.

Later, Services defeated Pondicherry in a low-scoring match. Put in to bat, Pondicherry lost the openers to run outs and struggled to rebuild. The 110-run target was chased down with ease by Services, with skipper Mohit Ahlawat’s unbeaten 26-ball 46 taking the team over the line in just 13.5 overs.

At the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Saurav Chauhan’s knock (81 n.o., 52b, 9×4, 2×6) helped Gujarat beat Haryana by four wickets. Both teams failed to capitalise on the normally batter-friendly track.

The same applied later in the day. Himachal Pradesh rode on Innesh Mahajan’s half-century to set Baroda a 143-run target. The 52-run opening stand between Shashwat Rawat and Vishnu Solanki ensured that the fumbles ended up as mere footnotes in the five-wicket win.

The scores: Group C: At Hyderabad: Punjab 310/5 in 20 overs (Abhishek Sharma 148, Prabhsimran Singh 70, Ramandeep Singh 39) bt Bengal 198/9 in 20 overs (Abhimanyu Easwaran 130 n.o., Akash Deep 31, Harpreet Brar 4/23).

Pondicherry 109/9 in 20 overs (Pulkit Narang 3/10) lost to Services 112/3 in 13.5 overs (Mohit Ahlawat 46 n.o.).

Haryana 142 in 19.3 overs (Yashvardhan Dalal 51, Arzan Nagwaswalla 3/16, Hemang Patel 3/26) lost to Gujarat 143/6 in 20 overs (Saurav Chauhan 81 n.o.).

Himachal Pradesh 142/8 in 20 overs (Innesh Mahajan 50) lost to Baroda 144/5 in 17.1 overs (Shashwat Rawat 47 n.o., Jitesh Sharma 41).