Ajinkya Rahane dazzled with a 56 ball 98 to power Mumbai to the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy final at the M.Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on Thursday. Riding on his brilliant knock Mumbai defeated Baroda by six wickets to secure a place in the SMAT summit clash. They will now play the winner of the match between Delhi and Madhya Pradesh, the second semifinal.

The Mumbai bowlers did their job as they restricted Baroda to a modest 158 runs. Both Hardik Pandya and Krunal Pandya failed to deliver and a late blitz from both Atit Sheth and Shivalik Sharma did Baroda some favour.

But Rahane had some other plans. The 36 year old looked to be in the mood and the Baroda bowler felt the heat as the Kolkata Knight Riders batter smashed the ball all over the ground.

He missed the century by two innings but his swashbuckling innings will be a big boost for KKR who decided to put their trust in the player by securing his services at the IPL 2025 auction. Rahane’s scintillating innings consisted of 11 fours and five sixes and he has reportedly also emerged as a contender for the next KKR captain.

Rahane could face Venkatesh Iyer in the final if Madhya Pradesh beat Delhi in the second SMAT semifinal. Iyer was KKR's highest paid buy at the IPL auction and another captaincy contender as per several reports. The Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy final will be played on Sunday at the M.Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.

Rahane has now scored 366 runs in eight SMAT matches and is currently the top scorer in the 2024 edition.

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