Minnows Odisha on Thursday shocked Delhi beating them by seven wickets in a group league match of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. After scoring highly in the first two games courtesy Unmukt Chand’s twin centuries, Delhi were bundled out for a paltry 80 in 19.5 overs with left-arm seamer Suryakant Pradhan taking four for 11. Pawan Negi was the top-scorer with 20.
Unmukt was out of the very first delivery as he was caught by glovesman Subhrajit Sahoo off Pradhan’s bowling. In reply, Odisha knocked off the runs with eight balls to spare as Ankit Yadav (26) and Gobind Poddar (25) scored bulk of the required runs. This is the second defeat for Delhi in three matches and now they have very little chance of topping the group and going to finals with four points.
UP beat Karnataka
Meanwhile, riding on Mohammad Kaif’s 70-run knock, Uttar Pradesh got the better of Karnataka by 10 runs in a Super league (Group B) match.
Kaif smashed his way to 54-ball 70 laced with three fours and four sixes to take UP to a competitive 163 for seven in their allotted 20 overs.
Chasing the target, Karnataka batsmen fought hard but fell short at the end, reaching 153 for eight.
Put in to bat by Karnataka, UP lost opener Prashant Gupta (4) early but Kaif made sure that held on firmly to one end of the wicket.
Even as wickets fell at the other end, Kaif played a responsible knock. He was ably supported by Gaurav Tomar (25), Tanmay Srivastava (22) for brief periods.
In a Super league Group A match between Vidarbha and Kerala, Kerala won by one wicket (with 3 balls remaining) via VJD method. After Vidarbha scored 138 for five in 19 overs, Kerala managed to reach 111 for nine in 12.3 overs to emerge victorious in a rain-curtailed match.
For Vidarbha, Amol Ubarhande top scored with 55, while RV Gomez remained unbeaten on 42 for Kerala.
Also, Punjab came up with a fine allround performance to register a 25-run victory over Bengal in the Super league-B match in Indore.
Electing to bat, Punjab scored 168 for six in their stipulated 20 overs, and then restricted Bengal to 143 for eight.
Opener Ravinder Singh scored a quickfire 46-ball 60, studded with eight fours and a six, to lay a solid platform.