Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2019-20: Best XI of the tournament

Harshal Patel (Haryana)

If you have a player in your side who can consistently score with the bat while at the same time also has the ability of being no mug with the ball and can consistently give you four overs every single game, then that guy becomes the MVP of the side. He gives your side a balance and when on-song can win you games with either of the facets of the game- bat or ball.

Haryana had a great run in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, one that ended with a semi-final defeat to eventual champions Karnataka. And, one of the prime reasons for it was the all-round display by Harshal Patel. The Gujarat-born all-rounder finished as the leading run-scorer for Haryana where he accumulated 374 runs at an average of 31.16 and a strike-rate of 165.48.

He wasn’t a mug with the bowl either. Harshal Patel was also the leading wicket-taker for Haryana, claiming 19 wickets at an average of 15.94 and a strike-rate of 13.5. His best performance came against Meghalaya where he racked up a whirlwind 82 off 40 balls to lift his teams’ total to 6-202 and backed it up with a three-wicket-haul (3-22).