Ajinkya Rahane’s unbeaten 72 and Sarfaraz Khan’s brutal 22-ball 73 powered Mumbai to a three-wicket victory over Rajasthan in their Super League Group B match of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy on Tuesday. Rahane scored 72 off 41 balls (7 fours, 3 sixes) but it was Sarfaraz who went all guns blazing in yet another chase in excess of 200, clobbering seven sixes and six fours to make 73 off only 22 balls.
Chasing 217, Mumbai never took the foot off the pedal and despite losing wickets in a heap they remained on track for another commanding win, overhauling the target with 11 balls to spare with Rahane anchoring the pursuit. Mumbai were undeterred in chase despite losing Yashasvi Jaiswal (15) after a 41-run opening stand with Rahane, who then teamed up with Sarfaraz to put on another 111 off only 39 balls for the second wicket.
Sarfaraz fell to Manav Suthar (4-0-23-3) after a whirlwind knock laden with powerful hits down the ground which saw Mumbai stutter as they lost wickets in heaps. While Angkrish Raghu-vanshi (0) and all-rounders Sairaj Patil (4), Suryansh Shedge (10) and skipper Shardul Thakur (2) failed to give Rahane the support, he found it in Atharva Ankolekar.