Out-of-favour veteran Indian batter Shikhar Dhawan returned to competitive cricket with a 28-ball 39 but his knock went in vain as DY Patil Blue lost by one run to Tata Sports Club in the DY Patil T20 Cup in Navi Mumbai on Wednesday.
The 38-year-old, who last played for India during the ODI series in Bangladesh in 2022, hit five boundaries and two maximums during his entertaining knock.
Set a target of 186, Dhawan, who last played competitive cricket in 2023 IPL for Punjab Kings, shared a 64-run stand with Abhijit Tomar in 7.1 overs.
Nutan Goel remained unbeaten on 38 off 35 balls as he added a valuable 58 runs for the fifth wicket with Shubham Dubey (42).
However, in the end, Blue fell short by just one run to finish on 184 for seven in their allotted 20 overs.
Former India wicket-keeper Dinesh Karthik, playing for Blue, was dismissed for a first-ball duck but he took the important catch of Samarth Vyas.