Kerala's Mohd Azharuddeen destroys Mumbai with 37-ball century

A summary of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy T20 group matches played on Wednesday.

Kerala's Mohd Azharuddeen destroys Mumbai with 37-ball ton

Mohammed Azharuddeen slammed a 37-ball century to power Kerala to an emphatic eight-wicket victory against Mumbai in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy T20 match at the Wankhede Stadium, in Mumbai, on Wednesday.

Azharuddeen entertained with his brilliant strokeplay, as he hit 137 not out from 54 balls as Kerala easily chased down the target of 197 for their first-ever victory against Mumbai in any format.

Put into bat, Mumbai had posted 196 for seven in their 20 overs, with Aditya Tare topscoring with 42, while the young Yashasvi Jaiswal stroked 40.

However, Kerala openers -- Robin Uthappa and Azharuddeen -- stunned the Mumbai bowlers with their amazing strokeplay in the early overs.

Azharuddeen showed intent right from the start as he hit the first ball he faced from veteran Dhawan Kulkarni for a four and hit pacer Tushar Deshpande for a couple of fours in the second over.

He hit the hapless Deshpande for a couple of fours and as many sixes to race to a 20-ball half-century, with Kerala sitting in control on 88 for no loss in six overs. At the other end, senior pro Uthappa made 33 from 23 balls before he was dismissed leg before wicket by Shams Mulani.

The two openers had given Kerala a blazing start, putting on 129 runs for the opening wicket from just 9.3 overs.

Captain Sanju Samson continued the assault, hitting 22 from 12 balls before he was caught behind off Deshpande.

There was no stopping Azharuddeen, who kept attacking in the middle as he brought up his century from just 37 balls to register the first century by a Kerala batsman in T20 cricket.

This is the third-fastest by an Indian batsman in T20 cricket and also the second-fastest century in the history of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy t20 tournament.

Opener Avi Barot and Prerak Mankad struck half centuries before Chetan Sakariya claimed a five-wicket haul as Saurashtra recorded a comfortable 79-run win over Vidarbha in a Group D match of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy T20 tournament, in Indore on Wednesday.

Opting to bat, Saurashtra rode on Barot (93 off 44) and Mankad's (59 off 26 balls) innings to post a mammoth 233 for seven.

The pace duo of Chetan Sakariya (5/11) and Mankad (4/48) then wreaked havoc with the ball as Vidarbha were bundled out for 154 in 17.2 overs.

Barot, who was unlucky to miss out on a well-deserved century, hit 13 fours and four sixes while Mankad's innings was laced with six boundaries and four maximums.

For Vidarbha, medium pacer Darshan Nalkande (4/32) was the pick of the bowlers while Yash Thakur (2/47) claimed two wickets.

In the chase, Vidarbha got off to a bright start with opener Jitesh Sharma scoring a 27-ball 43.

However, no other batsman could put up fight against Sakariya and Mankad, who struck at regular intervals.

Brief Scores:

Saurashtra 233/7 in 20 overs (Avi Barot 93, Prerak Manka 59; Darshan Nalkande 4/32) defeated Vidarbha 154 all out in 17.2 overs (Jitesh Sharma 43, Siddhesh Wath 21; Chetan Sakariya 5/11)

Services 160/7 in 20 overs (Ravi Chauhan 62,G Rahul Singh 37; Lakshay Garg  2/25 lost to Goa 163/5 in 19.4 overs (Aditya Kaushik 78; Amit Verma 42; Mohit Kumar 3/32)

Delhi beat Andhra by six wickets; Azharuddeen helps Kerala stun Mumbai

Delhi recorded their second straight win in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy after beating Andhra Pradesh by six wickets in an Elite Group E game, here on Wednesday.

Put into bat at the Wankhede Stadium, Andhra were restricted to 124/9 in their 20 overs, as Delhi bowlers led by left-arm pacer Pradeep Sangwan (3/33), put up an impressive show.

Delhi chased the target with three overs to spare even as skipper and India opener Shikhar Dhawan (5) fell cheaply.

For Andhra, Ashwin Hebber, who walked in at number five (32) was the top scorer as their entire top-order including skipper Ambati Rayadu (1), stumper K S Bharat (8) and Ricky Bhuvi (0) struggled.

Andhra were reeling at 36 for four at one stage. Their innings never got going as Delhi made regular inroads. India speedster Ishant Sharma (2/17), right-arm pacer Simarjeet Singh (2/21) and off-spinner Lalit Yadav (2/22) played their roles to perfection.

For Delhi, the chase wasn't exactly a walk in the park as they were reduced to 10 for two. But Nitish Rana (27) and Anuj Rawat (33) shared 52-runs for the third wicket to bring them back into the game.

After the two departed, Himmat Singh (32 not out) and Lalit Yadav (20 not out) ensured that there were no further hiccups as they forged an unbeaten 40-run fifth wicket stand to take their side home. 

Delhi had defeated Mumbai in their opening game.

Brief Scores:

Andhra Pradesh 124/9 (Ashwin Hebbar 32; Pradeep Sangwan 3/33, Ishant Sharma 2/17, Simarjeet Singh 2/21) lost to Delhi 128/4 (Anuj Rawat 33; Himmat Singh 32 not out; M Harishankar Reddy 2/40) by six wickets. 

Pondicherry 148/4 (Shedlon Jackson 82, Paras Dogra 32; Arun Chaprana 2/19) lost to Haryana 149/4 (Himanshu Rana 58, Shivam Chauhan 45; PankaJ Singh 2/31) by 6 wickets.

At Wankhede Stadium: Mumbai 196/7 (Aditya Tare 42, Yashasvi Jaiswal 40; K M Asif 3/25) lost to Kerala 201/2 (Mohammed Azharuddeen 137 not out; Shams Mulani 1/41) by 8 wickets. 

Punit Bist stars with unbeaten 146 as Meghalaya trounces Mizoram

A blistering 51-ball 146 by captain Punit Bist, which included six fours and 17 sixes, powered Meghalaya to a massive 130-run win over Mizoram in a Plate group match of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy T20 tournament here on Wednesday.

Opting to bat, Meghalaya saw opener DB Ravi Teja (7) fall in the third over after adding 27 runs with Yogesh Tiwari (53, 47 balls, 6X4, 2X6). Dippu Sangma fell one run later after which it was a Bist show as he simply toyed with the Mizoram bowling.

Bist, who previously played for Delhi, belted the ball all round the Guru Nanak College ground and reached his half-century in 26 balls. He went on the overdrive and hammered 94 runs in the next 25 balls he faced as sixes flew all over the ground and Meghalaya piled up 230 for 6 in 20 overs.

The wicketkeeper-batsman added 120 runs in a little over 10 overs for the third wicket with Tiwari.

The Mizoram batsmen never got going in a massive run chase and only three batsmen reached double figures as they managed to crawl to 100 for 9 in 20 overs.

In other matches, Bihar beat thrashed Sikkim by eight wickets for its second straight win while Chandigarh and Nagaland recorded victories.

Bihar is on top of the Plate ground standings with 8 points from two matches followed by Chandigarh and Nagaland with six apiece.

Brief scores: Meghalaya 230 for 6 in 20 overs (Punit Bist 146 not out, Yogesh Tiwari 53) beat Mizoram 100 for 9 in 20 overs (KB Pawan 33, Pratik Desai 27, Aditya Singhania 4/15) by 130 runs. Meghalaya: 4 points, Mizoram: 0.

Arunachal Pradesh 145 for 7 in 20 overs (Techi Doria 36, Rahul Dalal 31, Akilesh Sahani 31) lost to Nagaland 147 for 1 in 15.5 overs (Shrikant Mundhe 69 not out, Chetan Bist 50 not out) by nine wickets. Nagaland: 4 points, Arunachal Pradesh: 0.

Sikkim 110 for 8 in 20 overs (Varun Sood 28, Ashutosh Aman 4/18) lost to Bihar 111 for 2 in 19.1 overs (Mangal Mahrour 55, Shasheem Rathour 38) by eight wickets. Bihar: 4 points, Sikkim: 0.

Chandigarh 178 for 5 in 20 overs (Shivam Bhambri 56, Manan Vohra 39, AK Kaushik 36) beat Manipur 66 for 8 in 20 overs (Gurinder Singh 3/10, Bipul Sharma 2/8) by 112 runs. Chandigarh: 4 points, Manipur: 0.