KOCHI: In a team that has seasoned veterans like Sreesanth, Robin Uthappa, Sanju Samson and Basil Thampi, it was the relatively unknown Mohammed Azharuddeen who overshadowed them all at the Wankhede Stadium on Wednesday night with the innings of a lifetime.
The 26-year-old played a coming-of-age innings as he smashed a 54-ball 137 that blew Mumbai away and helped Kerala notch up their second straight win in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy.
However, with the likes of Virender Sehwag and Harsha Bhogle tweeting about the Kasaragod-native, he has well and truly announced himself at the national stage.
From a historic point of view, he also became the first cricketer from Kerala to score a century in T20 cricket. The previous best was Rohan Prem's unbeaten 92 against Delhi in 2013.
While Samson features thrice in the top ten list of highest scorers in the shortest format for Kerala, beating Azharuddeen's score would take some effort for anyone.
It was also the second fastest century in the history of the competition as he reached the century mark in 37 balls which also makes it the joint-third fastest century by an Indian batsmen in the format itself.
Mumbai would be wondering what hit them as they posted a competitive total of 196/7 after Kerala won the toss and chose to field.
Openers Yashasvi Jaiswal (40) and Aditya Tare (42) gave them a good start and Suryakumar Yadav chipped in with a 19-ball 38.
Kerala took a counter-attacking approach led by Azharuddeen as they didn't allow the bowlers to settle.
Uthappa rotated the strike and let his younger batting partner take charge as Azhar went after the likes of Dhawal Kulkarni and Tushar Deshpande. The opening pair put together a partnership of 129 and even after Uthappa departed, Azhar continued to bully the Mumbai bowlers.
He smashed eleven sixes and four boundaries in his innings and sealed the victory with a towering six as they coasted to victory with 25 balls to spare and eight wickets.
The win helps them remain hot on the heels of Delhi as the two are on eight points and their meeting on January 15 takes added significance in terms of who qualifies from the group.