Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy: Ruthless Tajinder Singh Dhillon helps Rajasthan topple Mumbai

Team Rajasthan humbled Mumbai by 17 runs in the Super League stage of the ongoing Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy at Eden Gardens on Wednesday. It was a concerted effort that saw outstanding contributions from Tajinder Singh Dhillon, Mahipal Lomror and Chetan Bist with the bat and later Deepak Chahar with the ball.

After three wickets fell in quick succession in just three overs, Chetan (41 off 35 balls, 3 fours, 2 sixes ) and Mahipal (74 off 55 balls, 4 fours, 4 sixes) consolidated the innings without holding themselves back from hitting big strokes and coalesced 86 runs bringing up the highest partnership for Rajasthan in the tournament this year. After Bist got out in the 14th over, Dhillon set the crease blazing in the company of Lomror. In 17 balls Dhillon scored 43, exploiting the batsmen-friendly pitch with colossal energy.

Chasing the target of 176, Mumbai were off to a flier start as they treated Rajasthan pacers with utter disdain and cashed in on the poor fielding. It was leg-spinner Rahul Chahar who brought the first breakthrough after he caught and bowled JG Bista (29 off 18) in the seventh over and it was in the 12th over that off-spinner Dhillon (2 for 21) chipped in with two scalps, that of SD Lad and AP Tare.

The match was still evenly poised as Akhil Herwadkar (68 off 51) was rattling up runs with immense ease, but the trick to bring back Deepak proved beneficial as he not only dismissed him, but also sent packing Shivam Dube (1 off 2) in the 16th over. Deepak ended his quota of 4 overs with crucial 3 wickets leaking just 27 runs and the responsibility to take the home team fell upon Aniket and Khaleel Ahmed (2 for 41) who were smashed around earlier in the inning. The two left-arm pacers made a comeback in the death overs and played their part in helping the team cross the winning line. Rajasthan restricted Mumbai at 158.