Syed Mushtaq Ali T20: Jharkhand beat Delhi in thriller, Abhimanyu Easwaran stars in Bengal’s record win

Batting first, Jharkhand rode on Virat Singh’s unbeaten 70 to make 158 for 4 in 20 overs against an attack that included Test paceman Ishant Sharma.

Delhi fell short by three runs despite a brave knock of 70 by Dhruv Shorey.

In other matches, Kerala thrashed Manipur by 83 runs and Jammu and Kashmir beat Nagaland by nine wickets in an one-sided encounter.

Brief Scores: Kerala 186/5 (Sachin Baby 75 not out, Mohammed Azharuddenn 47, Homendra 2-25) beat Manipur 103/7 (Yashpal Singh 40 not out, Mayank Raghav 32, Rohan Prem 1-7) by 83 runs. Points: Kerala:4, Manipur:0

Nagaland 136/6 (Pawan K B 53 not out, R Jonathan 31, Parvez Rasool 2-26) lost to Jammu and Kashmir 142/1 (Abdul Samad 76 not out, Jatin Wadhwan 62, Tahmeed 1-27) by nine wickets. Jammu and Kashmir 4 points, Nagaland 0.

Jharkhand 158/4 (Virat Singh 70 not out, Anand Singh 37, Subodh Bhati 2-33) beat Delhi 155/5 (Dhruv Shorey 70, Unmukt Chand 33, Shahbaz Nadim 2-26). Jharkhand: 4 points, Delhi: 0.

GROUP B- Rajasthan hands TN defeat in opener

Skipper Mahipal Lomror with a strokeful unbeaten 78 (52 balls, 6X4, 4X6) starred in Rajasthan’s emphatic 53-run win over Tamil Nadu in a Group ‘B’ match of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy T20 tournament, which began on Thursday.

Sent into bat, Rajasthan recovered well from 7 for 2 to post a score of 181 for 4 in 20 overs with Lomror leading the way and handy contributions from T N Dhillon (38, 19 balls, 1X4, 4X6), Aditya N Garhwal (30, 21 balls, 4X4, 1X6) and Chetan Bist (28).

In reply, Tamil Nadu was bowled out for 128 in the final over.

M S Washington Sundar, coming back from injury, got M N Singh (1) off the final ball of the first over as Tamil Nadu got off to a good start.

Four balls later, the experienced Robin Bist bowled the Abhishek Tanwar for a duck as Rajasthan slipped to 7 for 2.

The left-handed Lomror, who walked in at the fall of Robin Bist, went about steadying the ship and played shots whenever he got the chance to.

First, he was involved in a 42-run stand with Garhwal, before the latter fell to leg-spinner M Ashwin.

Tamil Nadu skipper Ravichandran Ashwin kept the batsmen in check with his clever variations but went wicketless, conceding 26 runs in his quota of four overs.

Lomror put on 51 runs with Chetan Bist and his 81-run association with Dhillon for the fifth wicket, made things difficult for Tamil Nadu.

The skipper and his partner (Dhillon) went on the offensive, blasting 81 runs in the last 5.4 overs as the TN bowlers bore the brunt.

Lomror hammered four sixes as did Dhillon to power Rajasthan to a formidable total.

Chasing a stiff target for victory, Tamil Nadu lost newcomer C Hari Nishaanth for 6 with the score at 18.

Wickets fell at regular intervals as Rajasthan bowlers led by Deepak Chahar (3 for 30) and S K K Ahmed (3 for 14) never allowed the Tamil Nadu batsmen to get going.

Young Shahrukh Khan with 21 (19 balls, 2X4, 1X6) was the top-scorer as the team collapsed to 128 all out in 19.5 overs.

In other matches, Ranji Trophy champions Vidarbha beat Himachal Pradesh by three wickets and Gujarat defeated Meghalaya by 13 runs.

Brief scores: Rajasthan 181 for 4 in 20 overs (Mahipal Lomror 78 not out, T M Dhillon 38 not out) beat Tamil Nadu 128 all out in 19.5 overs (Shahrukh Khan 23, S K K Ahmed 3 for 14, Deepak Chahar 3 for 30).

Points: Rajasthan: 4, TN: 0. Gujarat 146 for 8 in 20 overs (Axar Patel 48) beat Meghalaya 133 for 8 in 20 overs (Punit Bist 56, Piyush Chawla 3 for 17).

Points: Gujarat: 4, Meghalaya: 0. Himachal Pradesh 167 for 8 in 20 overs (E C Sen 52, N A Sharma 36, S B Wagh 3 for 32) lost to Vidarbha 171 for 7 in 20 overs (Atharva Taide 43, J M Sharma 37).

Points: Vidarbha:4, Himachal: 0.

EAST- Abhimanyu, Prayas star in Bengal’s record win

Youngster Abhimanyu Easwaran cracked his maiden Twenty20 century to continue his sublime form as former champions Bengal secured a record 159-run win over Mizoram in their opening Group D fixture of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy on Thursday.

The 23-year-old smashed five sixes and eight fours en route to his 56-ball 107 as Bengal piled 221/4 after being put in by Mizoram at the Barabati Stadium.

Abhimanyu’s effort was brilliantly complemented by Royal Challengers Bangalore-recruit Prayas Ray Barman as the debutant leg-spinner claimed 4/14 in his Twenty20 debut while Pradipta Pramanik bagged 3/13 as Mizoram folded for 62 in 13 overs to hand Bengal the biggest margin win of the tournament.

Karnataka held the earlier record — a 123-run victory over Jharkhand in Kolkata in 2018.

Abhimanyu, who had amassed 861 runs from six first class matches at an average of 95.66, took charge of the proceedings after Vivek Singh (28) departed in the third over. Abhimanyu found an able ally in Shreevats Goswami who struck a quickfire 55 from 33 balls (6×4, 1×6) in their 119 runs stand from 64 balls.

While the win came easy for Bengal, Wriddhiman Saha made just two runs in his comeback match after recovering from a career-threatening shoulder injury that had kept him out for about nine months.

At the DRIEMS Ground in the city outskirts, Manish Pandey struck 74 off 39 balls as Karnataka beat Assam by 15 runs.

Sent in, Karnataka scored 169/6 thanks to the skipper’s effort.

In reply, Assam were struggling at 61/5 inside nine overs before Wasiqur Rahman (62 off 41) and Rajjakuddin Ahmed (53 off 34) provided a late fightback with a 63-run stand. But Assam could manage 154/7 in their 20 overs

NORTH- Kaushal, Girish guide Uttarakhand to three-wicket win in Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy

Karn Kaushal and Girish Rauturi starred with the bat as Uttarakhand defeated Services by three-wicket in a thrilling T20 match of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy on Thursday.

Chasing 165 to win, Kaushal scored a 32-ball 58 to lay the foundation while Rauturi provided the late charge as Uttarakhand overhauled the target with one ball to spare.

Earlier, Nakul Verma (48) and skipper RS Paliwal (54) powered Services to a competitive 164 after electing to bat first.

Among other matches, Maharashtra, Baroda and Puducherry also made a winning start to their campaign here.

Playing at Palam A Stadium, Maharashtra thrashed Uttar Pradesh by 12 runs.

Asked to take first strike, Maharashtra posted a decent 149-5, riding on some useful contributions by NS Naik (41), NS Shaikh (41) and RD Gaikwad (35).

In reply, Uttar Pradesh folded for 137 allout in 19.3 overs, despite a 61-ball 93 by Samarth Singh. Only skipper AD Nath (10) posted a double figure as rest of the batsmen were dismissed for single score.

In another match, Atit Sheth claimed five wickets to guide Baroda to a eight-wicket win over Tripura.

Electing to bat, Tripura folded for 100 in 19 overs with Sheth returning with figures of 4-0-13-5.

Baroda’s top-order fired in unison as they overhaul the target, reaching 101-2 in 16.5 overs.

At Palam B Stadium, Puducherry defeated Hyderabad by three runs, courtesy 48-ball 89 by Paras Dogra.

Dogra blasted seven fours and six sixes in his innings to help Puducherry post 159-6 in 20 overs.

They then returned to restrict Hyderabad to 156-9 in 20 overs, despite a 51-ball 69 by opener PA Reddy.

Playing at Palam B stadium, Services’ left-arm spinner Vikas Yadav returned with incredible figures of 4-0-9-5 but couldn’t stop a rampaigning Uttarakhand.

Batting first, Services lost their first wicket in Ravi Chauhan (8) in the fourth over before G Rahul Singh too was set packing in the sixth over as they slipped to 48-2 but opener Nakul held on the other end with a 47-ball 48 to take the team across the 100-mark.

Nakul was cleaned up by Sunny Kashyap in the 16th over. Skipper Paliwal then produced six hits to the fence in his 35-ball unbeaten innings to help Services put a decent score.

In reply, Uttarakhand had a flying start as captain R Bhatia (20) and Kaushal shared a solid 72-run opening stand in 7.4 overs.

However, Yadav soon rocked the top and middle order with his left-arm spin bowling, dismissing Kaushal, VS Panwar (5), SA Rawat (3), Bhatia and Vijay Sharma (3) to reduce Uttarakhand to 100-5 in 13.1 overs.

Girish then took the onus on himself and blasted five sixes and two fours in his 27-ball 49 whirlwind innings to take them on the brink of victory. He was runout in the last over.

Brief Score:

Services: 164-5 in 20 overs (RS Paliwal 54; S Kashyap 1/18) beat Uttarakhand: 165-7 in 19.5 overs (KV Kaushal 58; V Yadav 5/9) by three wickets.

Maharashtra: 149-5 in 20 overs (NS Shaikh 41; Bobby yadav 2/34) defeated Uttar Pradesh: 137 all in 19.3 overs (Samarth Singh 93; SS Bachhav 3/23) by 12 runs.

Tripura: 100 allout in 19 overs (NN Sen Chowdhury 21; A Sheth 5/13) lost to Baroda: 101-2 in 16.5 overs (VP Solanki 32; T Saha 2/29) by 8 wickets.

Puducherry: 159-6 (P Dogra 89; M Hassan 2/29) defeated Hyderabad: P A Reddy 69; P Thamaraikannan 4/39) by three runs.