Karnataka has had an extraordinary run in the Twenty20 Syed Mushtaq Ali cricket tournament. The only team from South Zone to qualify for the Super league, Karnataka scored its 11th straight win and will clash with Maharashtra in the final at the Holkar Stadium here on Thursday.
Balanced attack
Equipped with a balanced seam and spin attack and dependable batting, Karnataka beat Vidarbha by six wickets on Tuesday and finished the Super League with 16 points.
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There was the possibility of a three-way tie in the group involving Karnataka, Mumbai and Vidarbha. But Manish Pandey (49 not out, 35b, 3x4, 2x6) led his team to a decisive win. Mumbai lost out despite posting the Super League’s highest score and an easy win over Uttar Pradesh.
Karnataka chose to field and restricted Vidarbha to a low score with R. Vinay Kumar striking early blows.
Vidarbha was tottering at 46 for five in the 10th over, when Apoorv Wankhade (56 not out, 41b, 3x4, 3x6) and Akshay Karnewar pulled their team to a respectable total.
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Needing a fraction under seven runs an over, Karnataka lost opener B.R. Sharath in the third over and Mayank Agarwal in the sixth, but Rohan Kadam, Karun Nair and Pandey swung the match in their favour.
Maharashtra had already confirmed its final spot with three wins, and on Tuesday scored its fourth, against Railways and topped Group A with 16 points.
The team, coached by former National selector Surendhra Bhave, lost openers Ruturaj Gaikwad and Rahul Tripathi well inside the PowerPlayer overs, but Nikhil Naik went hammer and tongs at the Railways attack and scored a 58-ball unbeaten 95 with four 4s and eight 6s.
Naik and Naushad Shaikh (59, 39b, 6x4, 2x6) put on 119 runs for the third wicket off 81 balls.
Later, seamers Samad Fallah and Divyang Hinganeskar and spinners Satyajeet Bachhav and Shaikh caused a Railways collapse after its openers Mrunal Devdhar and Pratham Singh had raised 68 in 7.1 overs.
The scores:
Group A: Maharastra 177 for five in 20 overs (Nikhil Naik 95 n.o., Naushad Shaikh 59, Manjeet Chaudhary three for 36) bt Railways 156 in 20 overs (Mrunal Devdhar 55, Pratham Singh 29, Gandhar Bhatawadekar 25, Samad Fallah three for 37).
Gujarat 121 in 19.3 overs (Axar Patel 53, Piyush Tanwar 29, Sayan Ghosh five for 15) lost to Bengal 125 for three in 18.2 overs (Wriddhiman Saha 53 n.o., Vivek Singh 28 not out).
Group B: Mumbai 183 for seven in 20 overs (Eknath Kerkar 46, Siddhesh Lad 62, Shreyas Iyer 43, Ankit Rajpoot three for 47) bt Uttar Pradesh 137 in 19 overs (Shardul Thakur three for 15, Shivam Dube three for 31, Siddhesh Lad three for 23).
Vidarbha 138 for seven in 20 overs (Apoorv Wankhade 56 n.o.t , Akshay Karnewar 33, Atharva Taide 28) lost to Karnataka 140 for four in 19.2 overs (Rohan Kadam 39, Manish Pandey 49 n.o.).