Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2024: Tilak Varma stars as Hyderabad beats Meghalaya by 179 runs

Meghalaya was bowled out for a mere 69, falling 179 runs short of Hyderabad’s massive total of 248 for six - its highest score in the tournament history.

But the day belonged to Tilak, who smashed the highest individual score in SMAT history - 151 off 67 balls and also became the first batter to record three consecutive T20 hundreds. | Photo Credit: Vijay Soneji/The Hindu

Tilak Varma showed why he’s the third-best T20I batter in the world at the moment as he starred in Hyderabad’s dominant win over Meghalaya in the first-round fixture of Group ‘A’ in Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy at the Niranjan Shah Stadium Ground C here on Saturday.

Meghalaya was bowled out for a mere 69, falling 179 runs short of Hyderabad’s massive total of 248 for six - its highest score in the tournament history.

The chase went nowhere right from the beginning. Ravi Teja had Swarajeet Das caught in the third over while his new ball partner Chama Milind hurried the batters with his pace. Then the 6 ‘9 Nishanth S troubled Jaskirat with extra bounce and got him caught behind.

The introduction of left-arm spinner G Anikethreddy pushed Meghalaya completely out of the game. He got Lerry stumped off his third ball and then picked three more to finish with 4/11 in his four overs. The other left-arm tweaker Tanay Thyagarajan kept the pressure from the other end and picked three as Hyderabad finished the game inside 16 overs.

RELATED: Tilak Varma becomes first batter to record three consecutive T20 hundreds

But the day belonged to Tilak, who smashed the highest individual score in SMAT history - 151 off 67 balls and also became the first batter to record three consecutive T20 hundreds, following the streak that began in South Africa.

Batting at number three, he had to walk in the first over after opposite captain Akash Kumar removed Rahul Singh Gahlaut for a three-ball duck.

Tilak got his first maximum off a ramp shot that he played very early in the innings. A few backfoot punches and a six off a slog sweep later, he reached his fifty in 28 balls. It almost seemed Meghalaya bowlers had submitted to Tilak’s eloquence. Off his next 39 deliveries, Tilak added 100 runs more to his name, finishing with 10 sixes and 14 fours.

It seemed Tilak was passing on the energy to his partners as Tanmay Agarwal scored a quickfire 55 off 22 balls and formed a 122-run alliance with his captain for the second wicket. Then Rahul Buddhi added 84 runs more with Tilak, taking Hyderabad way past Meghalaya’s reach.

Brief scores

Hyderabad 248/4 in 20 overs (Tilak Varma 151, Tanmay Agarwal 55, Rahul Buddhi 30) bt Meghalaya 60 all out in 15.1 overs (G Anikethreddy 4/11, Tanay Thyagarajan 3/15)