GROUP A
Yash Thakur takes four-for as Vidarbha beat Andhra Pradesh
Lucknow, Dec 8: Vidarbha pacer Yash Thakur halted Andhra in its tracks by grabbing four wickets to guide his side to a 19-run victory in a Group A final-round match of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy here on Monday.
Andhra, who have already qualified for the next stage along with Mumbai from the group, failed to overhaul Vidarbha’s 154/8, with the 26-year-old right-hand bowler returning excellent figures of 4/22 to restrict the opponents to 135/9.
Thakur, who also had a five-wicket haul in an earlier match, ended his SMAT campaign with 18 scalps.
Vidarbha’s innings revolved around Aman Mokhade’s 50 and keeper-batter Akshay Wadkar, who scored a 33-ball 41 with Andhra pacer Satyanarayana Raju’s 4/26 playing a big role in restricting the opponents to a below-average score.
However, Andhra fared even worse when they came out to bat, losing three wickets for 31 runs including India player Srikar Bharat for a golden duck.
Pyla Avinash scored a 37-ball 44 but that was not enough as seven players could only manage single-digit scores.
In another match, young Assam pacer Sadek Hussain returned a four-wicket haul on way to defeating Kerala by five wickets.
Brief scores: Vidarbha 154/8 in 20 overs (Aman Mokhade 50, Akshay Wadkar 41; Satyanarayana Raju 4/26) beat Andhra 135/9 in 20 overs (Pyla Avinash 44; Yash Thakur 4/22) by 19 runs.
Kerala 101 in 19.4 overs (Sadek Hussain 4/19, Abdul Ajij Kuraishi 2/16, Avinov Choudhury 2/15) lost to Assam 105/5 in 18.5 overs (Pradyun Saikia 41 not out; KM Asif 2/22) by 5 wickets. (PTI)
GROUP B
Bihar humble UP by 6 wickets
Kolkata, Dec 8: India’s T20 specialist Rinku Singh failed to fire with the bat as Bihar humbled fancied Uttar Pradesh by six wickets in their Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy Group B match here on Monday.
Opener Piyush Singh shone with a 54-ball 57 to help Bihar complete a chase of 145 with four balls to spare after Mangal Mahrour returned excellent figures of 3/12 in four overs to help his team restrict UP to 144 for six in the allotted 20 overs.
Mahrour, who bowls medium pace, was well supported by skipper Sakibul Gani (1/20) and Sakib Hussain (1/31), both picking up a wicket each in their full quota of overs but Amod Yadav was expensive as he leaked 50 runs for a solitary success.Batting at number seven, Prashant Veer top-scored for UP with an unbeaten, counter-attacking 40 off 26 balls after IPL star Rinku was dismissed for a 25-ball 19 by Mahrour at the Jadavpur University Campus ground.Middle-order batter Sameer Rizvi was shown the door by Mahrour after a 17-ball 22, while pacer Shivam Mavi remained not out on 13 off 12 balls.
Had it not been for the 50-run seventh-wicket stand between Veer and Mavi, UP would have probably ended up with less than what they eventually got.
Replying with the bat, Bihar were off to a great start as the opening du of Piyush and wicketkeeper Ayush Loharuka (36 off 36 balls) added 83 runs in 11.3 overs to lay the foundation for a successful chase.
Piyush hit four boundaries and a six during his stay in the middle, before Bipin Saurabh provided the finishing touches with a breezy, unbeaten 26 off 16 balls.
Prince Yadav was the most successful bowler for Uttar Pradesh, finishing with figures of 3/24 in four overs.Bihar won the toss and opted to bowl first, a decision that worked well for them.
Brief scores: Uttar Pradesh 144/6 in 20 overs (Prashant Veer 40 not out; Mangal Mahrour 3/12) lost to Bihar 145/4 in 19.2 overs (Piyush Singh 57; Prince Yadav 3/24) by 6 wickets.
Maharashtra 161/7 in 20 overs (Rahul Tripathi 83; Vasuki Koushik 3/20) beat Goa 146 all out in 19.3 overs (Lalit Yadav 49; Jalaj Saxena 3/22, Tanay Sanghvi 3/23, Vicky Ostwal 3/27) by 15 runs.
Hyderabad 146/8 in 20 overs (Pragnay Reddy 43; Jagjit Singh 3/36, Chiragvir Dhindsa 2/18, Sandeep Sharma 2/33) lost to Chandigarh 147/6 in 19.5 overs (Arjun Azad 63, Shivam Bhambri 42; Chinntla Rakshan Readdi 2/36, Chama V Milind 2/27) by 4 wickets.
Jammu and Kashmir 150/9 in 20 overs (Auqib Nabi; Tripuresh Singh 3/32) beat Madhya Pradesh 137 all out in 20 overs (Harsh Gawali 33; Auqib Nabi Dar 3/19) by 13 runs. (PTI)
GROUP C
Haryana beat Bengal to enter Super 8s, Punjab also qualify
Hyderabad, Dec 8: Mohammed Shami’s impressive figures of 4 for 30 went in vain as Haryana comfortably beat Bengal by 24 runs in a group C game to enter the Super 8s of the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 tournament here on Monday.
Haryana (+0.409) finished the group league engagements with 20 points and qualified as the second team from the group behind Punjab (+2.716), who logged the same number of points but had a better net run rate.
Shami finished the tournament with 16 wickets and on the day, was once again instrumental in polishing off the Haryana tail, restricting them to 191 for 9.
This was after Haryana were 170 for 4 in 17 overs.
In this edition of SMAT, Shami has been very effective at death barring the Punjab game when Abhishek Sharma took him to cleaners.
In reply, Bengal managed only 167 in 20 overs and that too after requiring 69 runs from eight overs with six wickets in hand.
The match changed once Yuvraj Keswani (25 off 14 balls), who looked in good touch having hit two sixes, was dismissed.
Anshul Kamboj, Ishant Bhardwaj and Sumit Kumar got two wickets apiece while Abhishek Porel (47 off 24 balls) didn’t convert a dazzling start.
Punjab tops group to enter Super 8s
Mumbai Indians star Naman Dhir smashed 61 off 36 balls as Punjab cruised to a 75-run victory over Gujarat to qualify for the Super 8s. Playing without Abhishek Sharma, Punjab posted 188 for 8 in 20 overs and then a collective bowling performance saw Gujarat decimated for 113 in 16.1 overs. Punjab with 20 points topped group C, followed by Haryana.
Debutant Amit Pasi hits 55-ball-114 in Baroda win
Debutant opener Amit Pasi hit 10 boundaries and as many as nine sixes in his 55-ball-114 as Baroda beat Services by 13 runs in a high scoring game.
Pasi, the 26-year-old, who made a name in Baroda Premier League, guided Baroda to 220 for 5 and then winners restricted Services to 207 for 8.
With the effort, Pasi equalled Bilal Asif’s record for the highest score on T20 debut.
However neither Baroda (16 points) nor Services qualified for the next stage. (PTI)
GROUP D
Delhi end campaign with win over Uttarakhand, Jharkhand top Group D
Ahmedabad, Dec 8: Yash Dhull and skipper Nitish Rana scored fine half-centuries as Delhi ended their Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy campaign with an 18-run win over Uttarakhand here on Monday.
With their third win in seven games, Delhi finished third in Group D, behind Jharkhand and Rajasthan who advanced in the premier domestic T20 competition.
Both Dhull (52 off 37) and Rana (51 off 29) had a productive tournament but the team failed to qualify for Super 8 stage after a disappointing first leg of the Ranji Trophy. Delhi made 162 for seven in 20 overs before limiting Uttarakhand to 144 for seven. Prashant Chopra (54 off 50 balls) top scored for Uttarakhand.
Leg-spinner Suyash Sharma and Digvesh Singh Rathi took two wickets each for Delhi that stemmed the flow of runs.
Jharkhand topped Group D after a 36-run win over Rajasthan, maintaining their unbeaten run in the group stage.
Jharkhand hammered 215 for five courtesy quickfire contributions from Virat Singh (69 off 36), captain Kushagra (55 off 37 and Robin Minz 58 off 27). Rajasthan could only manage 179 in 19.2 overs.
In the end, Delhi’s campaign closed with a mix of quiet satisfaction and the lingering weight of what might have been. The win over Uttarakhand — built on the assured strokes of Dhull and Rana, and sealed by the discipline of a young bowling unit — offered a reminder of the team’s underlying promise, even if the broader tournament narrative did not unfold in their favour.
Brief scores: Delhi 162/7 in 20 overs (Yash Dhull 52, Nitish Rana 51; Agrim Tiwari 2/18). Uttarakhand 144/7 in 20 overs (Prashant Chopra 54; Suyash Sharma 2/27, Digvesh Rathi 2/22).
Jharkhand 215/5 in 20 overs (Virat Singh 69, Robin Minz 58; Kukna Ajai Singh 1/23). Rajasthan 179/10 in 19.2 overs (Karan Lamba 52; Sushant Mishra 3/21). (PTI)
