Indian domestic cricket’s premier T20 tournament Syed Mushtaq Ali is underway, with the top T20 stars of Indian cricket participating in the event. The tournament was brought forward in order to showcase the domestic talent for the upcoming IPL 2018 auctions.
Here is the summary of January 9 matches results:
PUNJAB 170/3 defeated DELHI 168/4 by 2 runs
Punjab batted first against Delhi and Manan Vohra (74 in 50 balls; 3 fours, 6 sixes), Mandeep Singh (27 in 18 balls) and veteran Yuvraj Singh (50* in 40 balls; 4 fours, 1 six) took them to 170/3 in 20 overs. Pawan Negi was the pick of the bowlers for Delhi as he took 2/8 in his 2 overs.
Delhi responded with Gautam Gambhir making 66 in 54 balls with 6 fours and 2 sixes. Gambhir held the innings together and was dismissed in the 19th over. Rishabh Pant hit 38 in 25 balls with 3 sixes. Cameos by Nitish Rana (29 in 21 balls; 5 fours) and Lalit Yadav (15 in 10 balls) kept Delhi in hunt. But Punjab bowlers kept the pressure on and ultimately, Delhi fell short by 2 runs and lost the match.
UP 146/5 lost to RAJASTHAN 150/6 by 4 wickets
UP batted first and scored 146/5. Samarth Singh topscored with 26 and Rinku Singh hit 25 in 16 balls, with Sarfaraz Khan scored 19* in 11 balls. Captain Suresh Raina hit 13 in 15 balls. TN Dhillon took 2/16 for Rajasthan.
Ankit Lamba hit 45 in 35 balls and along with 37 from Aditya Garhwal gave Rajasthan a good start despite losing A Tomar early. MK Lomror (27 in 19 balls) and RK Bishnoi Sr. (21* in 15 balls) took Rajasthan to the win in the last over with four wickets in hand. Amit Mishra took 3/33 to keep UP in the game.
Rajasthan won the match by four wickets.
TN 184/4 defeated KERALA 149/7 by 35 runs
TN’s Dinesh Karthik hit 71 in 38 balls with four sixes and eight fours and with captain Baba Aparajith hitting 34 in 25 balls and N Jagadeeshan hitting 35* in 19 balls, TN hit 184/4 in their 20 overs. Warrier took 2/23 his four overs to become the most successful bowler for Kerala.
K Vignesh dashed all hopes of a Kerala win, as he picked up the top three Kerala wickets for just 11 runs on the board. Sachin Baby hit 51 in 44 balls and Salman Nizar hit 38 in 25 balls with 5 sixes to give Kerala some hope. But K Vignesh came back to complete his 5 wickets and took TN to a 35 runs win.
KARNATAKA 156/8 lost to ANDHRA 157/3 by 7 wickets
Stuart Binny’s 47* in 32 balls with 2 fours and 2 sixes and contributions from R Vinay Kumar (25 in 20 balls) and R Samarth (22 in 15 balls) led Karnataka to 156/8 against Andhra. Andhra’s KV Sasikanth took 3/32.
Andhra won the match easily in the 19th over losing just 3 wickets. Ricky Bhui hit 46* off 34 balls with 3 sixes. Ashwin Hebbar hit 35 and Hanuma Vihari made 26 as the openers out on 60 runs in 6 overs. DB Ravi Teja also scored 33 off 26 balls, as Karnataka bowlers failed to impress much.
HYDERABAD 181/5 defeated GOA 162/9 by 19 runs
Akshath Reddy (64 in 40 balls; 5 fours, 3 sixes) and Ambati Rayudu (44 in 30 balls) led the batting charge for Hyderabad, as they compiled 181/5 against Goa. Felix Alemao was the most successful Goan bowler with figures of 2/35 to his name.
Sagun Kamat did his best for Goa, scoring 47 off 40 balls, but Ravi Kiran’s 4/23 and two wickets each by Md Siraj and Mehdi Hasan never let Goa batsmen settle in their innings and Goa couldn’t get close to the Hyderabad total. Their innings stopped at 162/9 and Hyderabad won the match by 19 runs.
VIDARBHA 163/7 defeated RAILWAYS 146/9 by 17 runs
Vidarbha compiled 163/7 with Faiz Fazal making 45 in 28 balls and AV Wankhade making 36 in 24 balls with 3 sixes. Amit Mishra took 2/29 for Railways. Saurabh Wakaskar hit a brisk 20 and Karan Sharma hit 35 in 23 balls to give Railways a quick start. Captain Mahesh Rawat too contributed with 22 runs. However, with no one going on to make a big score, Railways always found themselves behind the run rate. RD Thakur’s 3/26 and SB Wagh’s 2/24 was enough for Vidarbha to register a 17 runs victory.
HIMACHAL 130/9 defeated J&K 97 by 33 runs
Four of the J&K bowlers picked two wickets each as they restricted Himachal to just 130/9. NR Gangta made 31, while BB Sharma made 28; as the rest of Himachal batting struggled. When J&K batted, PP Jaiswal wrecked havoc on their batting picking 4/15 and blowing their openers away cheaply.
None of the J&K batsmen apart from Manzoor Dar (36 off 23 balls with 3 sixes) withstood the Himachal bowling attack, as only two other J&K batters reached double figures and they folded for just 97 runs. Himachal won a low scoring match by 33 runs.
