Jharkhand etched their name in history by clinching their first Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy title on Thursday, becoming the
12th team to win the coveted domestic T20 tournament. This victory marks only their second senior domestic title,
following their Vijay Hazare Trophy win in the 2010-11 season.
The final saw Jharkhand post a staggering 262 for 3 against Haryana, setting a new record for the highest total in any
T20 tournament final. This surpassed Italy's 244 for 4 against Romania in the Sub-Regional Europe Qualifier final in
2024. Furthermore, Jharkhand's score is the second-highest in any T20 playoff or knockout match, just behind Somerset's
265 for 5 against Derbyshire in the 2022 T20 Blast.
Ishan Kishan's explosive century was a key factor in Jharkhand's triumph. His ton, achieved in just 45 balls, is the
third-fastest in a T20 final. Mitchell Owen holds the record with a 39-ball hundred in the 2024-25 Big Bash League
final, followed by Karanbir Singh's 44-ball century for Austria against Romania in the 2025 Budapest Cup. Kishan also
became only the second player to score a century in a Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy final, following Anmolpreet Singh's 113
for Punjab against Baroda in the 2023-24 season.
Kishan's impressive performance extended beyond the final, as he now has five centuries in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy,
tying him with Abhishek Sharma for the most in the tournament. Notably, all five of Kishan's centuries were scored while
playing as wicketkeeper. Only Quinton de Kock, with seven centuries, has more tons as a keeper in men's T20s. Kishan
captained the side on four of those occasions; no other player has more than two T20 hundreds as a keeper-captain.
The high-scoring match between Jharkhand and Haryana produced a combined total of 455 runs, the highest aggregate in a
T20 playoff or knockout game, eclipsing the 445 runs scored between Mumbai and Vidarbha in the previous edition of the
Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. The match also witnessed a record-breaking 33 sixes, with Jharkhand hitting 20 and Haryana
Throughout the tournament, Kishan amassed 517 runs, the third-highest in a single edition of the Syed Mushtaq Ali
Trophy. Devdutt Padikkal (580 runs in 2019-20) and Rohan Kadam (536 runs in 2018-19) are the only two players ahead of
him. Kishan scored two centuries in this edition, equalling his feat from the 2018-19 season. A total of seven batters
have now scored multiple hundreds in a single Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy season, but no one has managed three.
Sushant Mishra's 22 wickets in the tournament put him level with Rajasthan's Ashok Sharma for the most wickets taken by
a bowler in a single edition of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. Anshul Kamboj of Haryana finished with 21 wickets, tying
him with Lukman Meriwala's tally from the 2013-14 season.
Anukul Roy's all-round performance was another highlight for Jharkhand, scoring 303 runs and taking 18 wickets. Only
Harshal Patel (374 runs and 19 wickets in 2019-20) had previously achieved the feat of scoring 300+ runs and taking 15+
wickets in a single edition of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. In addition to his runs and wickets, Anukul also took nine
catches, a triple that only three players have previously achieved in a T20 tournament. Anukul reached 25+ runs in seven
matches and took multiple wickets in seven games, a double achieved by only two other players in a T20 tournament.
The 2025-26 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy saw a record-breaking 20 centuries scored, surpassing the 17 scored in the 2017 T20
Blast. The previous highest in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy was 14 during the 2024-25 season. A record 1884 sixes were
hit in the tournament, exceeding the 1855 sixes hit in the previous edition. With a run rate of 8.59, this season also
became the fastest-scoring edition of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, surpassing the 8.57 run rate of the 2024-25 season.