Uttar Pradesh continued to prosper with a strong batting performance and downed a fancied Mumbai by four wickets for its fourth straight win in Group D of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy inter-State T20 tournament in Cuttack. The loss has put Mumbai in danger of an exit at the end of the league stage.
Much like its previous three wins, UP thrived on the strength of its batsmen at the Barabati Stadium on Thursday and became the first team to secure a ticket to the Super League stage, to be played in Mumbai from January 15.
Like UP, another unheralded side Maharashtra cruised to a convincing 26-run win against pre-tournament favourite Karnataka to brighten its qualification chances. Suffering its third loss in four outings, Karnataka crashed out of the tournament as Maharashtra continued to flourish on a fine team effort. It set a big 185-run target for Karnataka and then produced a disciplined bowling effort to bowl it out for 159 in the penultimate over.
Difficult ask Even if Mumbai manages to beat Maharashtra in the arch-rivals’ clash on the final day of Group D affairs, it may not be enough to see it through to the Super League. Mumbai’s net run rate is lesser than that of Maharashtra’s, and it will need to register a sizeable win to give itself a shot at finishing second and keeping its campaign alive.
Services, meanwhile, overhauled a total of 176 for four by host Odisha in the third match at the DRIEMS ground, to preserve its faint hopes of qualification.
The players from smaller cities and towns, which generally make up the teams of UP and Maharashtra, came to impress more with their attitude and performance that overshadowed the relatively big opponents like Karnataka and Mumbai.
Umang Sharma, the man from Meerut, came to Uttar Pradesh’s rescue when it was struggling at 73 for three, after losing top-order batsmen Prashant Gupta (33), Samarth Singh (16) and captain Suresh Raina (20). Sharma struck two sixes and four boundaries and remained unbeaten on 47 (32b) to haul UP past the target of 167 with two balls to spare.
Unlucky Iyer This eclipsed the outstanding effort of Mumbai opener Shreyas Iyer, who blasted the UP bowlers all across the park in his 78 (43b, 10x4, 2x6) and laid the foundation for a big score for Mumbai, which also gained from contributions by Akhil Herwadkar (28), captain Aditya Tare (20) and journeyman Abhishek Nayar (22*).
Young Maharashtra batsman Nikhil Naik from Sindhudurg impressed with his grit and technique while punishing a fairly good Karnataka bowling line-up. His best came in the 15th over when he hit Shreyas Gopal for three consecutive sixes to reach 67 (45b, 4x4, 4x6) and contribute hugely in helping Maharashtra reach 184 for eight.
In reply, Karnataka crumbled under pressure, losing wickets from the beginning. Robin Uthappa, who was dropped three times (37, 49 & 59), utilised his lifelines to score 80 (52b, 10x4, 2x6) and make it the lone effort in Karnataka’s endeavour to secure the elusive win for survival.
BRIEF SCORES
Mumbai 164/6 in 20 ovs (Shreyas Iyer 78, Akhil Herwadkar 28, Abhishek Nayar 22*; Piyush Chawla 2/21) lost to Uttar Pradesh 168/6 in 19.4 ovs (Umang Sharma 47*, Prashant Gupta 33, Suresh Raina 20; Dhawal Kulkarni 2/31).
Maharashtra 184/8 in 20 ovs (Nikhil Naik 67, Prayag Bhati 39, Ankit Bawne 33; R Vinay Kumar 3/32, A Mithun 2/30) bt Karnataka 158 in 18.3 ovs (Robin Uthappa 80, R Vinay Kumar 23; Anupam Sanklecha 3/23, Domnic Muthuswamy 2/30).
Odisha 176/4 in 20 ovs (Abhishek Yadav 52, Govinda Poddar 42, Biplab Samantaray 35) lost to Services 177/6 in 19.2 ovs (Nakul Verma 63, Aanshul Gupta 39; Biplab Samantaray 2/21).
