RCB's Krunal Pandya and Rajat Patidar Rocks In Syed Mushtaq Ali trophy

Royal Challengers Bengaluru's domestic players have shined in the ongoing Syed Mushtaq Ali trophy. Baroda's captain, Kunal Pandya, led his team to the semi-finals with seven wins in eight matches. Top-order batsman Rajat Patidar helped his team, Madhya Pradesh, reach the semi-finals after they defeated Saurashtra in the quarterfinals.

Today, two quarterfinals were played in the BCCI limited-over domestic tournament. The first one was between Baroda and Bengal, where Krunal Pandya led the team. The other quarterfinal game was between Madhya Pradesh and Saurashtra. Madhya Pradesh and Baroda made it into the semi-finals.

Baroda vs Bengal

Baroda, who recently scored a historic total of 349 runs against Sikkim, continued his batting performance by scoring 172 runs on a bowling-friendly pitch. In chasing the target, Bengal got all out at 131 in 18 overs. Hardik Pandya tokri wickets in the innings.

Baroda enter the semis 👏

They defend 172 by bowling out Bengal for 131 🙌

3⃣ wickets each for Lukman Meriwala, Hardik Pandya & Atit Sheth

Shahbaz Ahmed played a fighting knock of 55(36)#SMAT | @IDFCFIRSTBank

Scorecard ▶️ https://t.co/FDmKRaHa9X pic.twitter.com/RvqXN1u3w1

— BCCI Domestic (@BCCIdomestic) December 11, 2024

Madhya Pradesh vs Vidarbha

In another quarterfinal played in Karnataka, Saurashtra, while batting, first scored a total of 173 with an impressive it didn't innings from Chirag Jani while chasing the 174 targets; Madhya Pradesh chased it in 19 overs with a remarkable performance from Venkatesh Iyer and an exclusive cameo from Rajat Patidar.

Madhya Pradesh are into the semis 🙌

A solid chase 💪

With 24 needed off 12, Harpreet Bhatia (22* off 9) and Venkatesh Iyer (38* off 33) hit some powerful blows to win it for Madhya Pradesh against Saurashtra 👌👌#SMAT | @IDFCFIRSTBank

Scorecard ▶️ https://t.co/h2Twh4lYDZ pic.twitter.com/8r2PaLgoaM

— BCCI Domestic (@BCCIdomestic) December 11, 2024

Krunal performance in the season

Under Krunal Pandya's captaincy, Baroda has won seven out of eight T20 matches. It's worth mentioning that the team also scored a record 349 against Sikkim, hitting a record 37 sixes in a match. Kunal led the team to the semi-final with some important bat-and-ball performances.

Rajat Patidar's performance 

Rajat Patidar was in impressive form throughout the tournament, scoring some remarkable runs, such as 62 runs off 37 balls in an innings against Punjab and a 112-run partnership with Harpreet Brar. His fast 28-run cameo in the quarterfinal helped Madhya Pradesh win the match and reach the semifinals. 

RCB management is excited to see the domestic player performing in the Mushtaq Ali trophy along with Krunal Pandya and Rajat Patidar's team's newest purchase, Jitesh Sharma, who comes with a price tag of 11 crore. Jitesh Sharma also performed exceptionally well in the long tournament, playing with an explosive strike rate of 229.62 in five innings with an average of 41.33. His recent performance has shown that the price tag of 11 crore is justifiable.