Having scored 16 points from six games, Uttar Pradesh needed to beat Jharkhand (20 from six) at the Wankhede Stadium to stay in the race for the knockout stage. Delhi had only their match against Arunachal Pradesh, the weakest side in Group C, left – and they already had 20 from six.

Batting first, Uttar Pradesh posted 160-8 largely due to Priyam Garg (31 in 25 balls), Rinku Singh (45 in 28), and Sameer Rizvi (24 in 19), while Shivam Mavi hit two sixes in his six-ball 15. For Jharkhand, Bal Krishna returned 3-27.

One of the greatest powerplay bowlers in the history of T20 cricket, Bhuvneshwar has not played for India since November 2022. This year, he was even released by the Sunrisers Hyderabad, for whom he played from 2014 to 2024. He will now return to the Royal Challengers Bengaluru, the first IPL franchise for whom he had played, as a teenager back in 2009..

Bhuvneshwar takes first hat-trick of his T20 career

Here, Bhuvneshwar opened bowling, and returned with the match in balance after the 16th over. At that stage, Jharkhand needed 45 in 24 balls with five wickets in hand. He had Robin Minz (11 in 11 balls) and Krishna caught off the first two balls of the 17th over, and bowled Vivekanand Tiwari with the third. Still not done, he followed this with three dot balls against Vikash Singh to complete a maiden over.

That sealed the match for Uttar Pradesh. Anukul Roy (91 in 44 balls) continued with onslaught, but it was not enough. With 11 to score off three balls, Roy was dismissed by Mohsin Khan. Mohsin ended the match with the next ball, having Vikas Kumar caught behind.

Uttar Pradesh won by 10 runs, drew level with Jharkhand on 20 points, and overtook them on net run rate (+1.942 to +1.893) to make it to the knockouts. Bhuvneshwar finished with figures of 4-1-6-3. Astonishingly, this was not even his most economical four-over spell in the format: he had 4-1-4-5 against Afghanistan in the 2022 Asia Cup.

Among bowlers to have bowled 20 overs, Bhuvneshwar has the best economy rate (5.29) among pacers and the second-best overall, after Yuzvendra Chahal (4.61) in the ongoing edition of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. Not too surprisingly, with the same cut-off, no bowler of any kind has conceded fewer than a run a ball in this tournament.

He began the tournament with 4-0-29-1 against eventual table toppers Delhi. Between that game and the Jharkhand match he had 3-0-20-1 against Himachal Pradesh, 4-0-28-3 against Haryana, and 3.1-0-26-0 against Jammu and Kashmir. He held himself against the relatively easier oppositions – 1-0-2-0 against Manipur, 2-1-1-1 against Arunachal Pradesh.

Most economical bowlers in Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2024-25 (20 overs)

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