Madhya Pradesh (MP) captain Rajat Patidar was left fuming after a bizarre call by the third umpire during the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy final against Mumbai. Patidar was in full flow during his stay at the crease and blasted a brilliant 81 not out in 40 balls to take MP to a respectable total of 174-8, including six fours and as many sixes. Things didn't look promising when MP were struggling at 86-5 in the 13 over and it seemed they would settle for a below-par score, but Patidar played a blinder to keep the hopes alive.

On the last ball of the final over, there was drama on the field due to a wide call by the on-field umpire. Mumbai were upset at the call and decided to challenge the decision. The third umpire saw that Patidar shuffled across and deemed the delivery legal, leaving Patidar upset. The MP captain had a word with the square leg umpire and gestured that the ball pitched outside the furthest marker outside off and it didn't matter if Patidar had moved across or not.

The decision was again sent to the third umpire who rectified his mistake and deemed the ball a wide.

Patidar had a great season for MP in SMAT 2024. The skipper led from the front and scored 428 runs in 10 games at an average of 6114. For Mumbai, Ajinkya Rahane had a brilliant season and scored 469 runs in nine matches. He ended the season as the leading run-scorer of the tournament. MP qualified for the final after beating Delhi in the semifinal while Mumbai got the better of Baroda in the first semifinal.

Meanwhile, Mumbai were headed to a win in the SMAT final, with the team comfortably placed at 127-4 in 14 overs, needing 48 runs in 36 balls at the time of writing.

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