Skipper Aditya Tare's unbeaten 42-ball 49 and a good showing by their bowlers enabled Mumbai trounce Services by eight wickets in a Group D match of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy Twenty20 tournament in Cuttack on Monday.
Chasing a modest 128 for victory at the Barabati stadium, Mumbai rode a third-wicket 50-run unbeaten stand between Tare and Siddhesh Lad (20 not out) to achieve the target with 11 balls to spare.
Opener Akhil Herwadkar laid a solid foundation with a 33-ball 39 and Shreyas Iyer contributed with a 15-ball 17.
Earlier, medium pacers Shardul Thakur and Rohan Raje claimed two wickets each as Mumbai restricted Services to a below-par 127 for seven in 20 overs.
Yashpal Singh scored a defiant 40 not out as the rest of the batting failed to get going.
Brief Scores:
Services 127-7 in 20 overs (Yashpal Singh 40 not out, Rajat Paliwal 26; Shardul Thakur 2-17, Rohan Raje 2-37) vs Mumbai 128-2 in 18.1 overs (Aditya Tare 49 not out, Akhil Herwadkar 39; Raushan Raj 1-26, Rajat Paliwal 1-15).
Samantray's ton in vain as Maharashtra beat Odisha
Biplab Samantray's brilliant century went in vain as Maharashtra came up with a strong batting effort to eke out a last-ball four-wicket win over Odisha in a high-scoring Group D match in Cuttack.
Samantray smashed a strokeful 102 runs off just 59 balls while skipper Govind Poddar made 63 off 43 deliveries to help Odisha post a strong 183 for four in their 20 overs after opting to bat.
Samamtray found the fence eight times and cleared the boundary on six occasions. Poddar struck two boundaries and five sixes as the duo shared 155 runs for the third wicket.
Chasing the stiff target, Maharashtra crossed the line off the final delivery of their innings.
Ankit Bawne (49 off 24) produced a late burst to take Maharasthra home after Prayag Bhati (44), Chirag Khurana (37), skipper Kedar Jadhav (20) came up with useful contributions at the top of the order.
Deepak Behera accounted for two Maharashtra batsmen, giving away 32 runs from his quota of four overs.
Brief Scores:
Odisha 183-4 in 20 overs (Biplab Samantray 102, Govind Poddar 63; Anupam Sanklecha (2-23) vs Maharashtra 184-6 in 20 overs (Ankit Bawne 49, Prayag Bhati 44; Deepak Behera 2-32).
UP down Karnataka, notch third straight win
Uttar Pradesh’s top-order made it count as they outplayed Karnataka by five wickets in a Group D match to notch their third straight win in the tournament.
Chasing 161 for victory at the DRIEMS Ground, Tangi, table-toppers UP rode on opener Prashant Gupta's quick fire 48 to achieve the target in 19.1 overs.
Gupta's 55-run opening stand with Samarth Singh (22) set up the 8 run per-over chase, while Suresh Raina (28) and skipper Eklavya Dwivedi (29 not out) also made key contributions to make the challenging target look easy.
Earlier, electing to bat, Karnataka posted a respectable 160 for six in 20 overs with opener Mohammad Taha scoring a 40-ball 45.
Chidhambaram Gautam (24 not out) and Aniruddha Joshi (20 not out) also did their bit to put up a respectable score.
Piyush Chawla picked two wickets.
Karnataka, who lost their second match in three outing, are placed fourth on the table.
Brief Scores:
Karnataka 160-6 in 20 overs (Mohammad Taha 45, Robin Uthappa 25; Piyush Chawla 2-24) vs Uttar Pradesh 161-5 in 19.1 overs (Prashant Gupta 48, Eklavya Dwivedi 29 not out; R Vinay Kumar 1-26).
Pujara's superb 81 helps Saurashtra thrash J&K
Cheteshwar Pujara registered his highest T20 score, a 55-ball 81, as Saurashtra thrashed Jammu and Kashmir by 73 runs in a Group B match in Kochi.
Opening the innings, Pujara struck five fours and as many sixes during his scintillating knock which took Saurashtra to 157 for 7 in their allotted 20 overs after they were sent in to bat at the Nehru Stadium.
The highlight of Saurashtra’s innings was a 70-run stand between Pujara and Chirag Jani (38) for the fourth wicket which came in 6.1 overs.
For J&K, Mohammed Mudhasir, Parvez Rasool and Waseem Raza took two wickets each while Zahoor Sofi got one.
Chasing 158 for victory, J&K suffered a batting collapse as they were skittled out for just 84 in 17.1 overs.
J&K failed to string together any meaningful stands as only two batsmen reached double figures.
Ian Dev Singh top-scored with a 35-ball 30.
For Saurashtra, Dharmendrasinh Jadeja grabbed three wickets for 19 while Jaydev Unadkat got two wickets.
Brief Scores:
Saurashtra 157-7 in 20 overs (Cheteshwar Pujara 81; Mohammed Mudhasir 2-15) vs Jammu & Kashmir 84 in 17.1 overs (Ian Dev Singh 30; Dharmendrasinh Jadeja 3-19).
Jharkhand too good for Rajasthan
A superb four-wicket haul by young left-arm seamer Vikas Singh and a blistering unbeaten fifty from Saurabh Tiwary powered Jharkhand to an eight-wicket win over Rajasthan in a Group B match in Kochi.
In a thrilling match that went down to the wire, Jharkhand first restricted Rajasthan to 120 for nine in their stipulated 20 overs, courtesy some fine bowling by 21-year-old Vikash, who was well-supported by Monu Kumar (1-25), PN Seet (1-17) and Kaushal Singh (1-6).
Jharkhand then returned to overhaul the target off the second-last ball of their innings, with Tiwary smashing an unbeaten 43-ball 61, which was studded with one four and three sixes, and Sumit Kumar scoring 38 in 50 balls with two fours.
Earlier, Rajasthan skipper Pankaj Singh's decision to bat at the Nehru Stadium backfired as they lost half their side in 7.2 overs with 40 on board.
However, Dishant Yagnik (30) and Chandrapal Singh (40) shared 59 runs then after the fall of Ashok Menaria (24) in the 12th over to give Rajasthan a respectable score to defend.
Chasing 121 to win, Jharkhand found themselves in a spot of bother with they were reduced to 18 for two in 5.4 overs but Sumit and Saurabh then took the onus on themselves and romped home with just one ball to spare.
Brief Scores:
Rajasthan 120-9 in 20 overs (C Chundawat 40; V Singh 4-12) vs Jharkhand 121-2 in 19.5 overs (S Tiwary 61; 2-14).
Kerala trounce Tripura
Young pacer Basil Thampi returned a four-wicket haul before Sanju Samson blasted an unbeaten half-century as Kerala notched an eight-wicket win over Tripura in a Group B match in Kochi.
Electing to field, Kerala rode fine bowling by Thampi, who dismissed SM Singha (6), BB Roy (1), SS Majumder (16) and NN Sen (0), as Tripura were shot out for 111 in 19.5 overs.
They then returned to overhaul the target, scoring 113 for two with 3.5 overs to spare, courtesy a 96-run second-wicket stand between Samson and PR Prem (40) at St Paul's college ground.
Earlier, put into bat, Tripura struggled to accumulate runs as wickets kept falling regularly. Udiyan Bose (35) emerged their top-scorer.
For Kerala, S Sandeep Warrier (2-26) claimed two wickets, while R V Gomez (1-17), P Prasanth (1-19) and VA Jagadeesh (1-18) scalped one each.
Chasing 112 for victory, Kerala recovered from the loss of their opener VA Jagadeesh (1) in the first over as Samson and Prem took them to the threshold of victory, reaching 98 in 14.4 overs when the latter lost his wicket to Paul.
Samson then took the team home. He blasted three fours and as many sixes in his 49-ball innings.
Prem's 39-ball innings was studded with four boundaries and one six.
Brief Scores:
Tripura 111 in 19.5 overs (U Bose 35; B Thampi 4-15) vs Kerala 113-2 in 16.1 overs (S Samson 56; M B Murasingh 1-17).
Mali stars in Railways' win over Andhra
Medium pacer Ranjit Mali returned impressive figures of four for 26 to help Railways beat Andhra by seven runs in a low-scoring Group C match in Vadodara.
Defending a modest score of 122 for nine, Mali starred for Railways, knocking off the first three wickets – those of openers Prasanth Kumar, KS Bharath and Koripalli Sreekanth to unsettle Andhra's chase.
He later returned to pick another wicket in the form of Sirla Srinivas.
Mali Anureet Singh (2-16) claimed two wickets as Andhra were bowled out for 115 in 19.4 overs.
Earlier, opting to bat, Railways did not have the best of outings and could only manage 122 for the loss of nine wickets.
Akshat R Pandey (28) top-scored for the Railway men while Faiz Ahmed (260 and Asad Pathan (23) were the other notable contributors for the side.
Left-arm fast bowler Cheepurapalli Stephen claimed four wickets for Andhra, giving away 15 runs.
Brief Scores:
Railways 122-9 in 20 overs (Akshat R Pandey 28; Cheepurapalli Stephen 4-15) vs Andhra 115 in 19.4 overs (K Karan Shinde 28; Ranjit Mali 4-26).
Image: Adiyta Tare
Photograph: BCCI
