Kishan’s ton lifts Jharkhand; Rajasthan win by 1 run vs Karnataka

India wicketkeeper batter Ishan Kishan gave a timely reminder of his T20 prowess with a blistering 50-ball 113 that powered Jharkhand to an eight-wicket victory over Tripura in their Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy Group D match on Sunday.

During his unbeaten knock, Kishan smashed 10 fours and eight sixes as Jharkhand overhauled Tripura’s 182 for seven with 15 balls to spare, making 185 for two. The knock will stand the left-arm batter in good stead at a time when the national selectors meet soon to pick up India’s T20I squad for the upcoming series against South Africa.

Kishan got adequate support from Virat Singh, who made an unbeaten 53 off 40 balls. Later, Rajasthan survived a late-order assault from Karnataka to register a tense one-run win. Rajasthan posted a very handy 201 for five in 20 overs, and Karnataka came very close before ending up at 200 for eight.

Karnataka faltered in their chase of 202, losing skipper Mayank Agarwal and KL Shrijith early to get reduced to 19 for two. They then were 51 for three with the departure of Devdutt Padikkal (32, 23 balls).

But the first hint of fightback came through an 82-run partnership between Karun Nair (51, 32b) and R Smaran (48 not out, 31b). Karnataka were sailing well at 133 for three in 14.5 overs, but they lost Karun, Abhinav Manohar, Shreyas Gopal and Praveen Dubey cheaply, sliding to 155 for seven in 17.3 overs. The timing too deserted Samran’s batting at this stage and unfortunately he did not regain for the rest of his innings, hampering Karnataka.

But Vidyadhar Patil (27, 8b, 3x6, 2x4) used the long handle to good effect to take Karnataka to 184 in 18.5 overs before getting out to pacer Kamlesh Nagarkoti (3/52). With 15 runs needed off the last over, a six by Vysakh Vijayakumar and a four by Smaran got Karnataka as close as three runs off the last ball, but all they could manage was a solitary run to fall agonisingly close to the target.

Earlier, quick 40s by Deepak Hooda, Kartik Sharma and Mahipal Lomror helped Rajasthan post a total that saved the day for them, only by just. Pacers Vidyadhar and Vysakh took two wickets apiece for Karnataka.

Rajasthan are now second in Group D with 12 points from three matches, same as Jharkhand but the latter leads owing to a better net run-rate — 1.4 against 0.82.Karnataka have slipped to fifth on the table with just 4 points from three games.

Brief scores:

Rajasthan: 201/5 in 20 overs (Mahipal Lomror 48 not out, Kartik Sharma 46, Deepak Hooda 43, Bharat Sharma 38; Vidyadhar Patil 2/41, Vysakh Vijayakumar 2/39) beat Karnataka: 200/8 in 20 overs (Karun Nair 51, R Smaran 48 not out, Devdutt Padikkal 32; Ashok Sharma 3/43, Kamlesh Nagarkoti 3/52) by 1 run.

Rajasthan: 4 points (Total: 12 points); Karnataka: 0 (Total: 4 points).

Tripura: 182/7 in 20 overs (Vijay Shankar 59, Bikram Kumar Das 42, M Murasingh 42; Anukul Roy 2/29) lost to Jharkhand: 185/2 in 17.3 overs (Ishan Kishan 113 not out, Virat Singh 53 not out) by 8 wickets.

Jharkhand: 4 points (Total: 12 points); Tripura: 0.

Uttarakhand: 164/6 in 20 overs (Yuvraj Choudhary 74, Kunal Chandela 47) lost to Tamil Nadu: 168/5 in 17.1 overs (Ravichandran Rajkumar 93 not out; Yuvraj Choudhary 2/21).