Siddharth Kaul’s superb spell of four for 26, including a hat-trick, and Prabhsimran Singh’s unbeaten 89 powered Punjab past Karnataka by nine wickets in Elite Group A of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Twenty20 Trophy at Alur (1) ground here on Tuesday.
Punjab moved to the top with two wins in as many matches, while Karnataka slipped to a first loss in two outings.
Falling apart
After being put in, Karnataka stumbled to a sub-par 125 for eight in 20 overs.
Only Rohan Kadam (32, 33b, 3x4) showed some fight, while the more established players — Devdutt Padikkal (19), Karun Nair (13) and K. Gowtham (13) — faltered.
Punjab seamer Siddharth’s hat-trick came in the 17th over when he dismissed Kadam, Aniruddha Joshi and A. Mithun in succession.
Punjab faced no trouble in the chase, reaching the target with 5.2 overs to spare. Young wicketkeeper-batsman Prabhsimran and Abhishek Sharma (30, 30b, 2x4, 1x6) set Punjab on the right track, putting on 93 for the opening wicket.
Prabhsimran returned unbeaten with a 52-ball 89 laced with nine fours and five sixes.
Devdhar, Shivam shine
In another fixture, Railways outclassed Uttar Pradesh by eight wickets. Mrunal Devdhar (57, 52b, 8x4) and Shivam Chaudhary (56 n.o., 39b, 6x4, 1x6) helped Railways reach the small 134-run target with 14 balls to spare.
With two wins, Railways is tied with Punjab on points, but the latter is ahead on net run rate.
