Vidarbha qualified for the Super League stage of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy with a convicting 27-run victory over Himachal. Wicketkeeper-batsman Jitesh Sharma hit his maiden ton, which was also the third in this edition as Vidarbha joined Jharkhand as the only two teams this season to qualify for the next round of the tournaments in all three formats of the game. Jharkhand booked their spot with a six-wicket win against Kerala.
Baroda’s Hardik Pandya slammed five sixes in one over and later picked 3/13, but that was still not enough, as Delhi beat Baroda by five wickets to end the league stage without dropping a game.
Following teams qualified for the next round of the tournament to be held in Mumbai
Group A: Vidarbha and Gujarat
Group B: Kerala and Jharkhand
Group C: Delhi and Baroda
Group D: Uttar Pradesh and Mumbai
Here’s a brief recap
Group A
Himachal v Vidarbha: Vid 183/6 (Jitesh Sharma 106, Bipul Sharma 2/23) beat Himachal 156 (Bipul Sharma 58, Akshay Wakhare 4/18) by 27 runs
Vidarbha topped Group A and booked their berth after a power packed century from opener Jitesh Sharma guided them to a challenging 183/6. Jitesh, who brought up his half-century in 36 balls, got to his maiden T20 ton in only 63 balls. He hit 12 boundaries and three sixes as Vidarbha dominated the proceedings at their home ground despite losing the toss.
Himachal began their chase on the right note with the openers adding 60 runs on the board. However, once the partnership was broken, in the seventh over, Vidarbha kept picking wickets at regular intervals as Himachal crumbled under the pressure of the mounting run-rate. Off-spinner Akshay Wakhare picked 4/18 while Himachal captain Bipul Sharma hit a half-century to go with his bowling effort of 2/23 earlier in the match.
Group B
J & K v Team Rajasthan: Team Rajasthan 157/4 (S Dobal 71, Ankit Lamba 54, Omar Alam 2/25) beat J&K (Mithun Manhas 36, Nathu Singh 3/18) by 45 runs
Team Rajsthan recorded their second victory and ended the tournament on a positive note with a 45-run victory against J&K. Siddharth Dobal hit 71 off 56 balls and Ankit Lamba too registered a half century as Team Rajasthan posted a strong 174/5 after being asked to bat first. It was the same story for J&K as captain Mithun Manhas once again top scored with 36 but the rest failed to get the big hits. Nathu Singh was once again impressive, picking three wickets from four overs.
J&K lost all their all league matches while Team Rajasthan finished fifth with two wins and four losses.
Kerala v Jharkhand: 169/6 (Sanju Samson 87, Rohan Prem 47, Shahbaz Nadeem 3/31) lost to Jharkhand 174/4 in 19 overs (Ishank Jaggi 45*, Fabid Ahmed 2/20) by 6 wickets
Jharkhand beat Kerala in the final league game by six wickets, but despite the result both teams qualified for the next round. For Kerala, it was the first loss in the ongoing tournament. Having won five games, Kerala topped group B while Jharkhand, who also won five finished second.
It was a crucial match for Jharkhand as a loss against Kerala would have put them on level with Saurashtra on 16 points. However, an upbeat Jharkhand were successful in knocking down Kerala’s stiff 170 runs target. Sanju Samson, who is getting back into the groove shared an 89-run stand with Rohan Prem (47).
The tough total did not upset Jharkhand as all their batters contributed and formed small partnerships. No. 5 Ishank Jaggi remained not out on 45 from 32 balls in company of Kaushal Singh (33 not out) as Jharkhand reached the target with an over to spare.
Group C
Baroda v Delhi: Bar 153/6 (Hardik Pandya 81*, Manan Sharma 4/17) lost to Del 156/5 (Nitish Rana 53, Unmkut Chand 38, Hardik Pandya 3/13) by five wickets
Hardik Pandya did everything possible in Baroda’s final league match against Delhi, but his gigantic effort of 81 not out and 3/13 still could not help his side avoid defeat. If Baroda’s talented youngster showed his all-round ability, leading the charge for Delhi was their promising batsman, Nitish Rana. The left-hander, who has been playing important cameos for Delhi, struck a half-century in just 24 balls as Delhi overhauled Baroda’s target. Nitish was removed by Pandya in the 17th over but other Baroda bowlers failed to get wickets.
Earlier, Pandya rescued Baroda from 60/6 to power them to a challenging 153/6.
Delhi and Uttar Pradesh are the only two teams to have won all their league games in the ongoing edition.
He slammed five sixes in the penultimate over bowled by medium pacer Aakash Sudan. The Delhi bowler also bowled a no-ball which was hit for a six and was forced to bowl a free-hit delivery which went for a four. Sudan ended up conceding 39 runs in six balls, the most by any bowler in the history of the tournament.
Follow the stars
Irfan Pathan scored one run and bowled four overs for 36 run, but did not get a wicket
Munaf Patel too failed to get a wicket in his four-over spell against Delhi
Gautam Gambhir was dismissed for just nine runs
Parvez Rasool picked 1/46 and scored 26 against Rajasthan
