The Mumbai bowlers did well to restrict Baroda to 158-7 at the Chinnaswamy Stadium after Shreyas Iyer had opted to field. Baroda had raced to 73-1 in nine overs before they lost four wickets for 10 runs in 25 balls. Only a late surge from Shivalik Sharma (36 not out in 24 balls) and Atit Sheth (22 in 14) helped them post a competitive total.

Hardik Pandya then took out Prithvi Shaw early, but Ajinkya Rahane continued with his golden form to hit his third fifty in a row and fifth in six innings. With Shreyas (46 in 30 balls) also playing his shots, the outcome was all but a mere formality.

Mumbai needed 41 in 46 balls when Suryakumar Yadav walked out at the fall of Shreyas’ wicket. Rahane was on 61 at this point. A hundred seemed far-fetched, but Surya ran a leg-bye, and Rahane hit a four and ran a single to retain strike. He needed 34 out of a target of 35.

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In the next over, bowled by Lukman Meriwala, Rahane ran for two, hit a six, and got a single. In the one after that, bowled by Sheth, Rahane smashed two sixes and again got a single to bring his “target” down to 12 out of 13.

Krunal Pandya himself bowled the next over. The first three balls fetched a single each, but Surya was happy to play out the rest of the over. Rahane needed 10 out 10.

With the outcome all but a formality, Krunal now recalled opening batter Abhimanyusingh Rajput. Rahane put the first and the third balls away for fours, but at this point Rajput bowled a wide outside the off-stump.

The scores were levelled, but Rahane still needed two – in other words, to get his hundred, he had to hit a boundary. He mistimed the slog, and wicketkeeper Vishnu Solanki held the skier. Rahane missed out on becoming the oldest to score a hundred in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy.

The drama did not end there. After Shivam Dube played out the last ball, Krunal brought on Shashwat Rawat, the other opening batter who had never bowled in T20 (or even List A) cricket before. Rawat began his white-ball professional bowling career by dismissing Surya, the Indian captain and one of the most-feared batters in the format, with his first ball.

Suryansh Shedge then hit a six off the next ball to put an end to it all.

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