Railways captain Karn Sharma bowled his team to a comprehensive win against Goa with a maiden five-wicket haul in T20s. Bowlers set up Tamil Nadu's victory over Gujarat and helped replace the Parthiv Patel-led team at the top of Group A points table. With a win against Bengal, Vidarbha are tied on points in Group A.
Jharkhand have taken their points tally to 12 with a thumping with against J & K in Group B. In Group D, Uttar Pradesh consolidated their position at the top of the table with a win over Mumbai.
Here’s a brief recap
Group A
Gujarat vs Tamil Nadu: Guj 105/9 in 19.4 overs (R Taylor 44*, WA Dhas 3/19, R Sathish 2/13) lost to TN 111/1 in 12.5 overs (A Mukund 67*, B Aparajith 30*, RP Singh 1/12) by 9 wickets
Tamil Nadu pacers sealed a thumping victory for the team by restricting Gujarat to 105 for nine after captain Parthiv Patel elected to bat. While Priyank Panchal retired hurt, R Sathish (2/13) claimed Parthiv for four and sent back Manprit Juneja couple of overs later to leave the team at 25 for two. J Koushik chipped in with the wicket of R Bhatt and Gujarat weren't able to recover after the poor start. Although Raxlee Taylor kept the innings afloat with a 38-ball 44, W Anthony Das (3/19) and left-arm spinner Rahil Shah wrecked the rest of the line-up to end the innings with two balls to spare. Abhinav Mukund (67*) and B Aparajith (30*) then chased down the target with ease.
Vidarbha vs Bengal: Bengal 147/5 in 20 overs (A Das 56, SS Mandal 52, A Karnewar 2/26) lost to Vidarbha 151/6 in 19.2 overs (F Fazal 49, A Wankhede 37, M Kumar 2/23) by 4 wickets
Apporva Wankhede helped Vidarbha chase the target after Faiz Fazal set up the chase with 49 off 44. The senior Vidarbha batsman shaped the chase, allowing the team to keep themselves in contention for a place in the Super League.
Earlier, Bengal lost the advantage after openers Abhisek Das and SS Mandal put up a 98-run opening stand to get the team off to a good start. While A Karnewar removed both, the rest of the batters failed to build on the solid foundation and restricted Bengal to 147 for five.
Group B
J & K vs Jharkhand: Jharkhand 179/4 in 20 overs beat (S Tiwary 57*, Shasheem 50, R Singh 2/43) J & K 103/7 in 20 overs (I Chauhan 67*, SK Singh 2/16, S Nadeem 2/16, Vikash 2/18) by 76 runs
Half-centuries by opener Shasheem (50) and Saurabh Tiwary (57* off 30) helped Jharkhand set J & K a stiff target. Chasing 180, the J&K line-up crumbled even as Ian Chauhan stoically fought to hold one end up. Left-arm pacer, Vikash claimed opener S Khajuria in the first over and left the opposition at 22 for two with his second wicket a while later. Left-arm spinners Shahbaz Nadeem and Sonu Kumar Singh then claimed two wickets each as they kept the opposition on a tight leash and bowled the team to a resounding win.
Group C
Railways vs Goa: Railways 165/8 in 20 overs (Saurabh 39, Asadullah Khan 36, S Bandekar 4/25) beat Goa 116/9 in 20 overs (RR Singh 29*, K Sharma 5/24, R Mali 4/24) by 49 runs
Captain Karn Sharma claimed five for 24 while pacer Ranjeet Mali claimed four for 24 to bowl Railways to a 49-run win against Goa. Defending the 165-run total, the pacer set the ball rolling by leaving Goa at 23 for two, while the leg-spinner ran through the middle-order. The duo maintained a stranglehold on the opposition and restricted them to 116 for nine to claim a thumping win.
Earlier, the lower half of the Railways got to 165 for eight after being 90 for two in the 12th over. The last two overs saw a flurry of wickets as the team looked to add to the tally of runs. S Bandekar, who finished with a four-for claimed two in the last over and also effected a run out in the same over.
Assam vs Andhra: Andhra 117/8 in 20 overs (AG Pradeep 26, J Syed Mohammed 3/15, AN Ahmed 2/14) beat Assam 105/10 in 19.3 overs (J Syed Mohammed 42, A Verma 22, Stephen 4/14, S Himasrinivas 2/13) by 12 runs
With his second successive four-for, CV Stephen bowled Andhra to a 12-run win in a low-scoring game against Assam. The left-arm pacer claimed four for 14 as Andhra defended 117 runs at the Moti Bagh Stadium. After claiming a five and four-wicket haul in his last two matches, the bowler followed up with another crucial performance. He was well complemented by his new-ball partner A Bandaru and spinners B Sudhakar and S Himasrinivas who claimed two wickets apiece.
Assam's Syed Mohammed who had earlier picked three for 15 to keep Andhra in check put up a fighting performance with the bat as well. He was the top-scorer for the team with 42 as the rest of the line up succumbed.
Group D
Uttar Pradesh vs Mumbai: Mumbai 164/6 in 20 overs (Shreyas Iyer 78, P Chawla 2/21, A Rajpoot 2/27) lost to UP 168/6 in 19.4 overs (U Sharma 47*, P Gupta 33, S Lad 2/27, D Kulkarni 2/31) by 4 wickets
Not able to capitalise on the good start given by Shreyas Iyer, Mumbai posted a modest 164 for six on the board. Opening the innings for the team in the shortest format of the game, the stylish stroke-maker scored 78 off 43 before being trapped lbw by Ankit Rajpoot. After his departure in the 14th over, Mumbai couldn't keep up the momentum and lost wickets in quick succession. Abhishek Nayar remained unbeaten on 22 off 20 balls.
While UP’s top order made useful contributions chasing 165, Umang Sharma took the team to the finish line with two balls to spare. The middle-order batsman remained not out on 47 as table-toppers consolidated their position in Group D.
Services vs Odisha: Odisha 176/4 (A Yadav 52, G Podder 42*, A K Sinha 1/18) lost to Services 177/6 in 19.2 overs (N Verma 63, B Samantray 2/21, D Behera 2/39) by 4 wickets
Although they lost opener Anrurag Sarangi in the second over to Ritesh Negi, Odisha notched up a competitive 176 for four after being asked to bat. Abhisehk Yadav's 52 before departing in the last over and Govind Podder's not out 42 in the 93-run stand for the fourth wicket helped the team set the opposition a 177-run target.
However, the bowlers were clobbered by Services' opener Nakul Verma. He slammed 63 off 39 balls in a 107-run opening stand before being run out. His opening partner, Anshul Gupta followed him back in the next over. While they lost four more wickets after that, Negi and Vikas Hathwala took the team comfortably across the line with four balls to spare.
Follow the stars:
RP Singh claimed the wicket of Dinesh Karthik in Gujarat's match against Tamil Nadu.
Parthiv Patel scored four runs after opting to bat against TN.
Parvez Rasool went wicketless in J & K's match against Jharkhand.
Mithun Manhas departed for two against Jharkhand.
Piyush Chawla claimed two for 21 to help keep Mumbai in check.
UP skipper Suresh Raina contributed 20 off 15 balls with a boundary and a six
Ashoke Dinda claimed one for 33 as Bengal failed to defend the 147-run total
Bengal’s wicketkeeper-batsman Wriddhiman Saha scored nine off 10 balls against Vidarbha
