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Venkatesh's All-Round Show, Hardik's Batting Woes, Rahane Magic: How IPL Stars Fared In SMAT Today

Bhargav Dixit

Venkatesh Iyer celebrating a wicket (@BCCIDomestic/X)Venkatesh Iyer celebrating a wicket (@BCCIDomestic/X)

As many as 33 Indian Premier League cricketers were in action across four Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2024-25 quarter-finals in Karnataka today. While some prototypical stars failed to get going, the others stood tall on their reputation in a bid to push their respective teams’ case for a spot in the semi-finals. A rookie all-rounder on the brink of an IPL debut played the most eye-catching innings.

Madhya Pradesh vs Saurashtra

Leading Saurashtra in a Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy quarter-final unsuccessfully for the second time, Sunrisers Hyderabad pacer Jaydev Unadkat (1* & 1/31) put on display an ordinary outing.

Playing for Madhya Pradesh, Lucknow Super Giants pacer Avesh Khan (2/51) was their most expensive bowler, something which you don’t expect from a senior player in such a crucial match.

Also representing MP, Kolkata Knight Riders all-rounder Venkatesh Iyer (2/23 & 38*) played like an archetype senior to be there till the end to seal a 174-run chase in the last over. Venkatesh’s captain, Rajat Patidar (28), who represents Royal Challengers Bangalore in the IPL, hit three fours and a six at a strike rate of 155.55.

Only MP bowler to not pick a wicket in Alur on Wednesday, Rajasthan Royals spinner Kumar Kartikeya (0/29) was neither able to control the flow of runs off his bowling.

Baroda vs Bengal

Batting at No. 3 in the SMAT after almost nine years, Baroda all-rounder Hardik Pandya didn’t justify his promotion in the batting order on the back of scoring 10 (11). Mumbai Indians captain, however, opened the bowling to pick figures of 4-0-27-3 which played a key role in Baroda comprehensively defending a 173-run target against Bengal.

Royal Challengers all-rounder Krunal Pandya (7 & 0/13), Hardik’s elder brother and captain of Baroda, also flopped with the bat at No. 4 but was economical in the three overs that he bowled.

SRH and Bengal pacer Mohammed Shami (2/43 & 0), whose all-round efforts had powered Bengal to a quarter-final spot, failed to replicate a similar performance against a much better team.

Post conceding runs at an economy rate of 14.50 in the first innings, Bengal and Super Giants all-rounder Shahbaz Ahmed (0/29 & 55), who kick-started the tournament with a century, finished it with a spirited half-century. Ahmed’s LSG teammate, pacer Akash Singh, leaked 15 runs in his lone over for Baroda at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium today.

Third-highest run-scorer this season, Bengal and Delhi Capitals wicket-keeper batter Abishek Porel (22) registered yet another start but couldn’t convert it into anything substantial in a knockout encounter.

Mumbai vs Vidarbha

Six days after pulling off the highest successful run-chase in the history of SMAT, Mumbai pulled off the third-highest successful run-chase in their next match to qualify for the semi-finals in a thumping manner. The same wouldn’t have been possible without contributions from several IPL stars.

With Mumbai captain Ajinkya Rahane (84) asking Vidarbha to bat first, Sunrisers batter Atharva Taide (66), Delhi Capitals batter Karun Nair (26), Royals batter Shubham Dubey (43*) and RCB wicket-keeper batter Jitesh Sharma (11) were in action in the first innings.

In the second innings, Rahane’s hard-hitting form saw him smashing 10 fours and three sixes at a strike rate of 186.66. For the unversed, the 36-year-old player is the fourth-highest run-scorer in addition to having the joint-highest number of half-centuries to his name in SMAT 2024-25.

With big-ticket players namely Punjab Kings’ Shreyas Iyer (5) and Mumbai Indians’ Suryakumar Yadav (9) not justifying their respective potential, Chennai Super Kings all-rounder Shivam Dube (0/33 & 37*) took centre stage in the middle-order.

However, it was Shreyas’ Mumbai and Punjab teammate Suryansh Shedge (2/36 & 36*), who smashed a four and four sixes at a strike rate of 300 to chase down a 222-run target with four deliveries to spare. Shedge’s second successive game-changing knock has it in it to hand him an IPL debut in the first half of the upcoming 18th season. Vidarbha pacer Yash Thakur (1/43), who will also play for PBKS in IPL 2025, was one of the four bowlers from his team who conceded runs at an economy rate in excess of 10.


Delhi vs Uttar Pradesh

After RCB pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar (0/34 & 20) won the toss and opted to field, Delhi’s left-handed pair of Priyansh Arya (44) and Anuj Rawat (73*) played pivotal knocks to propel the team to 193/3 in 20 overs. While the Kings batter hit three fours and as many sixes at a strike rate of 141.93 to grab the third spot in the list of most sixes hit this season, Gujarat Titans wicket-keeper batter his seven fours and five sixes at a strike rate of 221.21.

Delhi captain Ayush Badoni (25 & 2/37) and Himmat Singh (3*), who are part of Lucknow in the biggest T20 league across the globe, also got to bat in Bengaluru today. Part of the same franchise, Uttar Pradesh pacer Mohsin Khan (1/27 & 18*) didn’t bowl his full quota of overs. UP all-rounders Vipraj Nigam (0/22 & 7) and Nitish Rana (1/23 & 2), who are part of Capitals and Royals respectively, didn’t have the best of outings.

For UP, Super Giants wicket-keeper batter Aryan Juyal (11), Knight Riders batter Rinku Singh (10) and DC batter Sameer Rizvi (26) flopped. The last two getting out cheaply significantly hit their chances of chasing down a 194-run target.

A primary reason why the Badoni-led Delhi qualified for their fourth SMAT semi-final (second consecutive) is Titans pacer Ishant Sharma (1/11), Sunrisers pacer Simarjeet Singh (1/35), Bangalore spinner Suyash Sharma (2/36) and LSG pacer Prince Yadav's (3/36) combined bowling performance.