DEHRADUN, Oct 17: Kolkata Knight Riders leg-spinner Suyash Sharma headlined Delhi’s fine bowling show with career-best figures of 5/13 as they defeated Madhya Pradesh by seven wickets in a group E game of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy here on Tuesday.
Suyash, who made a name for himself during the last IPL season, was well-supported by veteran pacer Ishant Sharma (2/29 in 4 overs) and young quick Harshit Rana (2/22 in 4 overs) in restricting MP to a lowly 115 for 9 despite the presence of IPL stars like Venkatesh Iyer (2) and fit-again Rajat Patidar (7).
In reply, Ayush Badoni (44 not out off 44 balls) and Himmat Singh (27 not out off 30 balls) added 72 runs for the unbroken fourth wicket stand to knock off the required runs in 19.2 overs. Skipper Yash Dhull (0) failed to trouble the scorers.
All-rounder Abhishek Sharma smashed nine sixes and an equal number of boundaries in his superb knock of 112 off 51 balls as Punjab scored a record 275 for 6 and comfortably beat Andhra by 105 runs in a group C game in Ranchi.
Punjab’s score is the highest team total in the history of the National T20 tournament, surpassing Mumbai’s 258 for 4 against Sikkim in 2019.
This was Abhishek’s second T20 hundred and the other significant contributor was Anmolpreet Singh, who scored an astonishing 87 off just 26 balls with nine sixes and six fours. Two Andhra bowlers, Prithvi Raj (2/63) and Harshankar Reddy (0/66 in 4 overs) went for more than 15 runs per over.
In reply, Ricky Bhui played an equally scintillating knock of 104 not out off 52 balls with six fours and nine sixes but that wasn’t enough, with Andhra managing only 170 for 7 in the end.
Title contenders Mumbai made short work of Meghalaya by restricting the minnows to 65 for 9 and then winning their group A game by nine wickets in Jaipur.
For Mumbai, pacer Tushar Deshpande took 3/8 in 3 overs while Shams Mulani got 2/6 in his quota of four overs.
In reply, Mumbai won the match in 9.4 overs with former India U-19 World Cupper Angkrish Raghuvanshi scoring 32 off 31 balls.
India A regular Upendra Yadav hit as many as nine sixes in his 51-ball 103 not out while Ashutosh Sharma broke Yuvraj Singh’s record by scoring the fastest T20 half-century off 11 balls in Railways’ 127-run victory over an inexperienced Arunachal Pradesh in a group C game in Ranchi.
Railways scored 246 for 5 in 20 overs, riding on Upendra and Ashutosh’s 12-ball-53 and then dismissed the opposition for 119 in 18.1 overs with left-arm seamer Susheel Kumar taking 4/17 in 4 overs.
Ashutosh’s half-century is fastest by an Indian, beating Yuvraj Singh’s 12-ball 50 in the 2007 T20 World Cup against Australia.
However, this is not the fastest ever as in the recent Asian Games, Nepal’s Dipendra Airee scored 50 off 9 balls against Mongolia.
After being walloped by Maharashtra in the opener, Bengal beat Deepak Hooda-led Rajasthan by 29 runs in a group D game in Mohali.
Burly all-rounder Ritwik Roy Chowdhury, who has been in search of an IPL team for few years now, scored 51 off 32 balls to make his case for the various scouts while skipper Sudip Kumar Gharami made useful 39 off 30 balls in Bengal’s 172/7.
In reply, Rajasthan were restricted to 143 for 9 with skipper Hooda managing only 16. Ishan Porel with 3/20 was the pick of the Bengal bowlers. PTI
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