All About The Madhya Pradesh League 2024 Final

In a massive moment, the Jabalpur Lions have managed to win the first-ever edition of the Madhya Pradesh League T20 (MPL 2024) as they defeated the Bhopal Leopards in the grand finale taken place at the Gwalior International Cricket Stadium. Without much of doubt, it can be said that the inaugural edition of the MPL 2024 was a very successful T20 tournament as many of the local players from Madhya Pradesh got a big platform to showcase their talent and skills. During the recently concluded T20 competition, as many as five teams namely Jabalpur Lions, Rewa Jaguars, Bhopal Leopards, Malwa Panthers and Gwalior Cheetahs entertained the cricket fanatics with some competitive contests. The grand finale of the Madhya Pradesh League 2024 was a spectacular event featuring some celebral figures and a riveting cricket action. 

All about the Madhya Pradesh League 2024 final

After batting first in the high-pressure final at the Gwalior International Cricket Stadium, the Jabalpur Lions managed to post a mammoth total of 249 for 4 in their quota of 20 overs. They got off to a brilliant start at the top as the two openers, Arpit Gaud and Abhishek Pathak stitched a fine partnership of 84 runs inside the first six overs of the powerplay. Arpit contributed with a superb cameo knock of 43 runs off only 16 balls that included 4 sixes and 3 fours. However, it was Abhishek who played a remarkable counter-attacking innings of 142 runs off just 62 balls that consisted of as many as 12 fours and 11 sixes. Towards the end, Aryan Deshmukh also scored an unbeaten 36 runs off 22 deliveries. 

In the massive run-chase, the Bhopal Leopards also got off to a blistering start smashing a total of 57 runs in just 3.2 overs. But still they kept on losing wickets at regular intervals and failed to get going especially in the middle overs. Many of the batters for the Bhopal Leopards got some impressive starts, however, all of them failed to convert them into big innings that eventually proved to be the difference between the two teams. Tripuresh Singh picked up a total of three crucial wickets as the Bhopal Leopards were bowled out for 216 runs in 18. overs. Abhishek Pathak was named the Man of the Match for his stunning century and also took a couple of wickets with the ball. 

While talking about the stats, more than 450 runs were scored in the exceptionally entertaining MPL 2024 grand finale between the Bhopal Leopards and the Jabalpur Lions. Aniket Verma, who played for the Bhopal Leopards, finished as the leading run-scorer of the T20 tournament with an excellent tally of 273 runs from a total of 6 matches at an average of over 54 and a stupendous strike-rate of 195. In the bowling department, it was Rewa Jaguars' Shivam Shukla who ended as the highest wicket-taker during the competition with a total of 10 wickets from only 4 games at a fine economy rate of less than 7. Aniket also smashed the most number of sixes (13) in the entire Madhya Pradesh League 2024 season while Abhishek Pathak smacked the most number of fours (20). While playing for the Bhopal Leopards, Priyanshu Shukla had the best strike-rate of 262.5 in the T20 League. 

Apart from the sensational cricketing action, a lot of interesting things actually happened during the Madhya Pradesh League 2024 final. Just before start of the final match between Jabalpur Lions and Bhopal Leopards, a traditional cultural dance performance was organised for the fans at the Gwalior International Cricket Stadium. As witnessed during the 2023 ODI World Cup and in the Indian Premier League (IPL 2024) season, the crowd in the Gwalior stadium enjoyed the a fantastic laser show with some fireworks during the mid-innings break. 

One of the popular Bollywood and television celebrities, Sharad Kelkar, was also present at the stadium to witness the staggering Madhya Pradesh League 2024 finale encounter. It was a wonderful one-time experience as IPS Dr Manoj Kumar Sharma and Shraddha Joshi Sharma, who are the two famous characters on whom the recent Bollywood movie, 12th Fail was based on, too graced their presence in the exciting MPL 2024 final. 

"I have been the selector for Gwalior division. I have been the selector for Madhya Pradesh for 14-15 years. Whenever I went to Tamil Nadu or Karnataka, I saw the emergence of the domestic T20 leagues. That’s when I thought, ‘Why not MP?’," Ravi Patankar spoke about the vision behind the start of Madhya Pradesh League T20 2024.

"The domestic T20 leagues are a great source of player scoutings, even for the IPL franchises. I always wanted to promote the youngsters of Madhya Pradesh. Something extra had to be done, and this (Madhya Pradesh League) is that extra which we are trying to do," he added.