Goa beat Hyderabad in its final league match of the South Zone Syed Mushtaq Ali Twenty20 tournament at the ACA-VDCA stadium here on Saturday. The win came in grand style when Amit Yadav slammed a last ball six off Pragyan Ojha.
Hyderabad scored 149 for seven thanks to D.B. Ravi Teja (48), G. Hanuma Vihari (27) and Amol Shinide’s knock (28) late in the innings. Harshad Gadekar, Gauresh Gawas and Lakshay Garg claimed two wickets each and Darshan Misal one for Goa.
Hyderabad had the match in its hands with Goa struggling at 56 for six, but opener Sagun Kamat — who scored his fourth half-ton in the tournament — was joined by Gadekar for a 44-run stand. After he left Gadekar (30, 27b, 4x4) added 44 runs with Amit Yadav (38 not out, 15b, 5x6). Fourteen runs were needed off the last over and Amit Yadav completed the task.
In the afternoon match at the ACA-VDCA stadium here, Amit Verma with his excellent leg-spin bowling — four wickets for two runs off 3.1 overs — helped last year’s winner Karnataka beat Tamil Nadu by 35 runs. Three run outs each marred the chances of both sides, more so in the case of Tamil Nadu, with M. Vijay going out early while his team was chasing a target of 123. Soon after, Amit Verma claimed B. Indrajith and struck twice in an over to remove V. Shankar and M. Prabhu to stifle Tamil Nadu.
At the ACA North Zone Academy ground, Chintalavalasa near Vizianagaram, Kerala, dismissing Andhra for 69, won by nine wickets to record its third win and retain its runner-up spot. Kerala now qualifies for the inter-zone tournament to be held from April 8 to 14 at Rajkot and Mumbai.
Final positions: 1. Goa (20 points from five wins), 2. Kerala (12), 3. Tamil Nadu, 4. Hyderabad, 5. Karnataka (each has eight points and placed in that order based on net run rate), 6. Andhra (four points).
The scores: At Visakhapatnam: Hyderabad 149 for seven in 20 overs (D.B. Ravi Teja 48, Anmol Shinde 28, G. Hanuma Vihari 27) lost to Goa 151 for eight in 20 overs (Sagun Kamat 56, Amit Yadav 38 n.o., Harshad Gadekar 30). Goa 4 points, Hyderabad 0.
Karnataka 122 for seven in 20 overs bt Tamil Nadu 87 in 15.1 overs (Amit Verma four for two). Karnataka 4, Tamil Nadu 0.
At Vizianagaram: Andhra 69 in 18.2 overs (P. Prasanth three for 11, Basil Thampi three for 20) lost to Kerala 73 for one in 9.3 overs (Vishnu Vinod 31 n.o., K.J. Rakesh 29). Kerala 4, Andhra 0 .
