SMAT 2025: Ajinkya Rahane, Suryakumar Yadav's batting form bring relief for KKR and MI ahead of IPL 2026
Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Mumbai Indians (MI) fans can take a breath of relief as their respective key players have performed well in the ongoing Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (SMAT 2025) tournament.
Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Mumbai Indians (MI) fans can take a breath of relief as their respective key players have performed well in the ongoing Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (SMAT 2025) tournament. With the confident batting from Ajinkya Rahane and Suryakumar Yadav, Mumbai got an easy win over Railways on November 26 at Ekana Cricket Stadium B Ground.
Mumbai went to play the match against Railways with their full force. Batters of the Railways cricket team tried their best to score a good amount of runs to challenge the star-studded opposition. Ashutosh Sharma played for Railways and played an attacking 30-ball, 61-run innings. His innings was laced with seven boundaries and three over-boundaries. Mohammad Saif was another Railways batter who performed strongly against Mumbai's bowling attack, which contained well-known names like Shardul Thakur, Tushar Deshpande, and Shivam Dube. Thakur was absolutely on fire with the new ball in hand.
Mumbai got two wickets early in the match, but Railways endured the early blows and registered 158 for India in 20 overs mostly because of Sharma's 61 and Saif's 48-run innings.
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Confident batting by Ajinkya Rahane and Suryakumar Yadav ahead of IPL 2025
The 159-run target was not hard enough for Mumbai to chase down. With limited quality bowling options, Railways could barely set any hurdle in front of Mumbai's strong batting line-up. Ayush Mhatre's early departure was soon covered up nicely by Rahane and then Yadav. Ajinkya Rahane, who will play IPL 2026 for Kolkata Knight Riders, scored 62 off 33. Interestingly, he hit five over boundaries and only one boundary to make the knock effective. Yadav joined him in the middle with some extra fireworks. The Mumbai Indians star got 47 off 30 with five 4s and two 6s. MI fans are definitely happy to see their star middle-order batter gaining momentum ahead of IPL 2026, as his recent individual performances with Team India were below average.
In 15.5 overs, Mumbai defeated Railways in the SMAT 2025 today with 7 wickets in hand. Rahane was named Man of the Match for his batting performance.
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