Goa won the Syed Mushtaq Ali South Zone T20 tournament for the first time when it demolished last year’s winner Karnataka by 108 runs for its fourth win in the league at the ACA-VDCA stadium here on Friday.
Goa secured the title with 16 points before the six teams play their last round of league matches on Saturday. The fight is now for second place to qualify for the knockout phase.
Kerala beat Tamil Nadu by two wickets in an exciting finish at the same venue.
First winAndhra erased its previous three losses with a thumping eight-wicket win over Hyderabad to record its first win.
Pacer D. Sivakumar returned with superb figures of four for six, while B. Sudhakar, at the other end, finished with three for nine — the best hauls for both in T20 cricket — to bowl out Hyderabad for 76.
Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Hyderabad have eight points each from two wins, while Karnataka shares third place with Andhra. Both teams have four points.
Sizzling startGoa’s openers Sagun Kamat (95, 61b, 10x4, 4x6) and Swapnil Asnodkar (51, 40b, 5x4, 1x6) put on a partnership of 145 after the team decided to bat first.
It lost the next five wickets for the addition of 28 runs, with R. Vinay Kumar picking up three and S. Aravind two, but the total of 174 for six proved to be insurmountable for Karnataka.
Harshad Gadekar and Gauresh Gawas sent back Robin Uthappa and Manish Pandey with just five runs on board and Karnataka continued to slide as Amit Yadav, Gadekar and Sayed Badiuzzama picked up wickets on a regular basis.
Left-arm spinner Darshan Misal denied any fightback when he claimed three wickets, including that of R. Vinay Kumar.
Only Karun Nair (23) and R. Samarth (13) entered double figures.
P. Prasanth (18 n.o., 2x4, 1x6) pulled off a narrow win for Kerala after Rohan Prem and V.A. Jagadeesh shared 56 runs for the fourth wicket after the team was 23 for three while chasing Tamil Nadu’s total of 156 for four.
Big hitsJafar Jamal slammed 41 off 14 balls (3x4, 4x6), but when Shahrukh Khan removed Sachin Baby at 135 and Yo Mahesh claimed two wickets in two balls, including Rohan Prem at 145, some big hits were needed and Prasanth obliged.
Top-scorer M. Vijay (87, 52b, 9x4, 3x6) added 80 for the second wicket with B. Aparajith in the Tamil Nadu innings.
The scores:
At Visakhapatnam: Goa 174 for six in 20 overs (Sagun Kamat 95, S.A. Asnodkar 51, R. Vinay Kumar three for 14) bt Karnataka 66 in 13.2 overs (D. Misal three for 16).
Goa 4, Karnataka 0 .
Tamil Nadu 156 for four in 20 overs (Murali Vijay 87, B. Aparajith 28) lost to Kerala 159 for eight in 19.2 overs (Rohan Prem 45, Jafar Jamal 41, V.A. Jagadeesh 31, V. Yo Mahesh three for 38).
Kerala 4, Tamil Nadu 0 .
At Vizianagaram: Hyderabad 76 in 20 overs (D. Sivakumar four for six, B. Sudhakar three for nine) lost to Andhra 77 for two in 11.3 overs (D.B. Prasanth Kumar 33 n.o., N. Jyothi Saikrishna 33).
Andhra 4 points, Hyderabad 0 .
