T20 Mumbai

Shams Mulani delivered his T20 career-best performance, both with the bat and the ball, but his efforts just weren't enough as Mumbai lost to Tamil Nadu in the Super League Group B fixture of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy at the C.B. Patel Ground in Surat on Friday.

Put in to bat first, Mumbai got off to a troubled start and couldn't really recover as the innings progressed with Shams Mulani, who walked out to bat in the second over at 2/2, proving to be the only respite.

He forged a 32-ball 42-run partnership with Prithvi Shaw as the duo tried to take control of the match during their stand, scoring 32 runs in three overs, before Shaw's departure towards the end of the seventh over for 30 (19b, 4x4s, 1x6).

Thereafter, wickets tumbled but Shams Mulani, an Aaksh Tigers Mumbai Western Suburbs player in T20 Mumbai, found kept the scoreboard ticking with an odd boundary, including successive sweeps off Manimaran Siddharth, the standout bowler of the day.

Taking just 39 balls, the 22-year-old Shams Mulani brought up his maiden fifty with a heave over mid-wicket for four. The last 13 deliveries he faced produced 25 runs as he tried to up the tempo but eventually fell in the penultimate over when he went to pull an M Mohammed delivery.

With 73 runs in just 52 balls, that included 10 fours and a six, at a strike rate of 140.38, Shams Mulani single-handedly pillared the innings with partnerships with Shaw and Shardul Thakur, the latter with whom he put on 40 runs for the ninth wicket.

Mumbai ended their innings at 121/9 with a difficult task to restrict the opposition.

Tamil Nadu began their chase with a flurry as they racked up 35 runs in just 3.3 overs, scoring at a rate of 10 before Shams Mulani struck twice in a space of three balls to send back Shahrukh Khan and Baba Aparajith.

In his next over, he trapped Dinesh Karthik in front to reduce Tamil Nadu to 49/3 at the of the powerplay and giving Mumbai a sniff of a chance.

But 37 runs were scored in the next three overs, shutting the door on any Mumbai hopes. Tamil Nadu won the match by seven wickets, aided by C Hari Nishanth's 73* (44b, 5x4s, 6x6s), and 37 balls to spare.

Shams Mulani was the pick of the bowlers for Mumbai, scalping 3/26 in his quota of four overs and registered his career-best figures in T20 cricket.

Mumbai will play their next Super League match in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy against Jharkhand on Sunday.