Kolkata, Nov 1: Shubman Gill celebrated his T20I call-up for the New Zealand tour in style, smashing his maiden century in the format as Punjab defeated Karnataka by nine runs in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy quarterfinals here on Monday.
The opener batted till the last ball of the penultimate over and top-scored with a career-best 126 in Punjab’s 225 for four.
In reply, the two-time champions and last season’s runners-up put up a fight before being restricted for 216 for six. Punjab will face Himachal Pradesh in the first semi-final at Eden Gardens on Thursday.
Delhi fell short by just one run in a tricky chase of 158 to be knocked out by Vidarbha in a second quarterfinal at the Jadavpur University Second Campus ground in Salt Lake.
It was Yash Thakur who was the architect of their win as he bowled a perfect final over to dismiss Lalit Yadav (17) and Lakhsay Thareja (4) in three balls to swing the match in their favour. Chasing 157, Delhi needed 26 off the last two overs and managed 16 off veteran India pacer Umesh Yadav.
Vidarbha will take on Mumbai in the second semi-final at the Eden.
Also, Bengal suffered a four-wicket loss to Himachal Pradesh in another thrilling last-eight finish.
Meanwhile, Shreyas Iyer top-scored for Mumbai with a 30-ball 40 while Shivam Dube came up with a 25 not out from 13 balls as Mumbai sealed a two-wicket win against Saurashtra. (PTI)
