The 34-year-old Indian pacer Mohammed Shami rescued Bengal with the bat and played an important role in a thrilling win against Chandigarh in the preliminary quarter-final of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2024-25. 

Bengal batting faced trouble from the beginning of the innings, and they were losing wickets at regular intervals. Opener Karan Lal (33), no.5 batter Writtick Chatterjee (28), no.8 batter Pradipta Pramanik (30), and no.10 batter Mohammed Shami (32*) reached 20+ runs in that innings.

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Mohammed Shami recorded his highest T20 score

While Shami came to bat at the score of 114/8, the right-handed batter scored the second-highest runs for his team. He scored 32 not out off 17 balls with the help of three fours and two sixes. In the final over of the innings, Shami smashed two sixes and one four off Sandeep Sharma, which helped Bengal to score 159/9 in 20 overs. It was Shami’s highest score in his T20 career. 

During the first innings of the match, the right-arm medium pacer Jagjit Singh took four wickets as he had the bowling figures of 4-0-21-4.

Shami took one wicket in the first over

In reply, Chandigarh batters got some starts, but most of them failed to capitalise. While the innings experienced four 20+ scores, only Raj Bawa (32) reached the 30-run mark. 

After scoring crucial runs, Shami started with the new ball and got the wicket on the third ball of the innings. He dismissed the opener Arslan Khan for a golden duck and later ended with the bowling figures of 4-0-25-1. 

The Player of the Match, right-arm medium pacer Sayan Ghosh, picked up four wickets as he ended with the bowling figures of 4-0-30-4. In the final over, Chandigarh required 11 runs to win the match and had three wickets in hand. Ghosh conceded only seven runs and marked two wickets, including one run out, as Bengal reached the quarter-final by winning the match by only three runs.