Maharashtra, with three wins in as many matches, secured a place in the final of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy tournament on Monday. The team, winner 10 years ago, defeated Jharkhand by 14 runs to take its tally to 12.
Bengal is the other side in Group A which had an opportunity to record three victories, but the loss against Maharashtra in the Super League has dashed its hopes as the latter will progress on head-to-head even if it loses to Railways on Tuesday.
In Group B, the Net Run Rate (NRR) could determine the finalist in the event of Karnataka, Vidarbha and Mumbai being tied on wins and points.
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Against Jharkhand, Maharashtra posted a tournament high 153, with Vijay Zol (50, 43b, 7x4) and Ankeet Bawane (64 not out, 46b, 3x4, 4x6) raising 86 for the fourth wicket. Experienced left-arm seamer Samad Fallah and left-arm spinner Satyajeet Bachhav derailed the chase, snaring five wickets.
Mumbai’s Tushar Deshpande was in form yet again, this time against Vidarbha. He dismissed the openers Atharva Taide and Jitesh Sharma and also Umesh Yadav who threw his bat at everything while scoring a 12-ball 26 with three fours and two sixes.
Chasing Vidarbha’s 137, Jay Bista’s strokeful unbeaten half-century took Mumbai home in the 16th over.
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The scores: Group A: Railways 110 for nine in 20 overs (Harsh Tyagi 32 n.o., Piyush Chawla three for 12) lost to Gujarat 112 for three in 14.1 overs (Parthiv Patel 25, Piyush Tanwar 55 n.o.).
Maharashtra 153 for four in 20 overs (Vijay Zol 50, Ankeet Bawane 64 n.o.) bt Jharkhand 139 for eight in 20 overs (Bikash Singh 46 n.o., Satyajeet Bachhav three for 17).
Group B: Vidarbha 137 for eight in 20 overs (Umesh Yadav 26, Rushabh Rathod 26, Tushar Deshpande three for 37) lost to Mumbai 138 for four in 15.4 overs (Jay Bista 73 n.o., Shreyas Iyer 28, Suryakumar Yadav 25).
Uttar Pradesh 140 for six in 20 overs (Priyam Garg 30, Shubham Chaubey 29, Pawan Negi three for nine) lost to Delhi 142 for six in 19.4 overs (Dhruv Shorey 62 n.o., Pranshu Vijayran 34).