A round-up of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy matches played on March 26, 2015
ESPNcricinfo staff26-Mar-2015 South ZoneTirumalasetti Suman’s 93 off 61 balls and Pragyan Ojha’s four-for set up Hyderabad’s 82-run win over Andhra in Kochi.After Hyderabad were put in to bat, Suman, who scored 82 against Tamil Nadu in the last game, and Danny Dereck Prince whipped up 45 runs in 5.1 overs before the latter was bowled by seamer Bandaru Ayyappa, who went on to take two more wickets. Suman then added 88 runs in 8.2 overs for the third wicket with Tanmay Agarwal, who made 30 off 22 balls. By the time Suman was dismissed in the 19th over, he had slammed 11 fours and five sixes.Andhra began poorly in their reply, as M Ravikiran sent back Prasanth Kumar and captain Mohammad Kaif off consecutive deliveries. Only three batsmen reached double figures, as Ojha ran through the middle order.Cameos from Mayank Agarwal (36), Karun Nair (30) and Shreyas Gopal (23*) helped Karnataka complete a four-wicket win over Goa in Kochi.Set 114 to win, Karnataka, despite losing R Samarth and captain Manish Pandey early in the piece, found their voice through Agarwal and Nair who put on 37 runs. After Agarwal, who stuck four fours and two sixes in his 28-ball innings, was caught behind off Robin D’Souza, Nair took his team closer to the target in Gopal’s company.There was a slight wobble after off-spinner Amit Yadav removed Nair and Kranthi Kumar in the space of two balls, but Gopal stayed till the end to ensure Karnataka crossed the line with two overs to spare.Karnataka had earlier inserted Goa, who slumped to 27 for 5. Only Darshan Misal, who scored 41 off 34 balls, contributed substantially. D’Souza, Sher Yadav and Amit Yadav chipped in towards the end to take Goa past 100. Seamer David Mathias, playing his second game, was the pick of the bowlers with three wickets.Tamil Nadu edged Kerala by two wickets with four balls to spare after overcoming a shaky start in Kochi.Chasing 126, Tamil Nadu kept losing wickets at regular intervals, and were in considerable trouble when H Gopinath, who top-scored with 32, was the fifth man to exit with the score on 60. Shahrukh Khan departed soon after, and then Malolan Rangarajan and R Sathish added 42 runs to take them close to their target.Earlier, put into bat, Kerala’s start was in contrast to their opponents’, as sizeable scores from Sanju Samson and Raiphi Vincent Gomez put them on course for a good total. But, from 78 for 2 in 11 overs, they scored only 47 more runs, as Tamil Nadu pulled things back by taking wickets in quick succession. Aswin Crist prised out three scalps, including those of Gomez and captain Sachin Baby. North ZoneManan Vohra’s 55-ball 77 powered Punjab to a 94-run victory over Jammu & Kashmir at the Feroz Shah Kotla.After J&K elected to bowl, Vohra and Jaskaranveer Singh, who hit 29 off 18 balls, gave Punjab a quick start. After Jaskaranveer’s dismissal, Vohra added 56 runs with Mandeep Singh, whose contribution was only 8. Then, towards the end, Gurkeerat Singh notched up a 14-ball 26 to drive Punjab to 176.J&K’s reply never gained any momentum, with only captain Parvez Rasool managing to pass 25. Siddarth Kaul claimed three wickets, as J&K were bowled out for 82 in 18.2 overs.Medium-pacer Deepak Punia took 6 for 14 to rein in Haryana’s chase and leave them 15 runs short of Services’ total of 141. Chasing 142, Haryana stumbled to 40 for 3 in the seventh over, with Punia accounting for all three wickets. Himanshu Rana and Sachin Rana steadied the chase with a 57-run partnership for the fourth wicket but the latter’s wicket allowed Services to forge a comeback with quick wickets. Punia contributed with another double-wicket over, getting rid of Harshal Patel and top-scorer Himanshu Rana and Haryana were eventually limited to 126 for 8. Earlier, Pratik Desai’s 43 and Yashpal Singh’s 41 helped Services tide over the low scores of the top and middle order to post 141 for 6.Pankaj Jaiswal’s four-wicket haul gave Himachal Pradesh their third win on the trot, as they defeated Delhi by 19 runs at the Feroz Shah Kotla.Opting to bat, Himachal Pradesh made 154, Raghav Dhawan (33) and Paras Dogra, who smashed a 19-ball 34, being the major contributors. Left-arm spinner Manan Sharma claimed three wickets.Delhi didn’t get off to the best of starts with openers Unmukt Chand and Gautam Gambhir, who faced 15 balls for six runs, dismissed inside the Powerplay. Milind Kumar , scoring 52 off 39 balls, and Nitin Rana (32 off 20) rebuilt the innings with a 48-run stand. Despite losing Rana in the 11th over, Milind kept his team in the hunt. But Pawan Negi’s dismissal in the 17th over – at which point Delhi needed 32 off 21 deliveries – triggered a terminal slide, as four more wickets fell in the space of three overs to deny the home side victory.Jaiswal was well supported by Rishi Dhawan and Akshay Chauhan, who claimed two wickets apiece, as Himachal extended their unbeaten streak. East ZoneOffspinner Pratik Das’ maiden five-for in only his second Twenty20 game, bundled Assam out for 110 to set up an 82-run win for Odisha. Defending a total of 192 for 4, Odisha were given early wickets by the medium-pace pair of Suryakant Pradhan and Deepak Behera. Das got the key breakthroughs, dismissing top-scorer Pallavkumar Das and Swarupam Purkayastha in the eighth over. He then took three wickets in five balls to leave Assam at 78 for 8 and they lasted only four overs before being bowled out for 110. Odisha’s formidable total was built on brisk innings from Govinda Podder (47 from 29 balls) and Anurag Sarangi (43 off 30). Arabindh Singh smashed five fours and two sixes in his unbeaten 18-ball 34 to boost the innings at the end.Tripura tripped up badly in a chase of 153 – they finished 147 for 3 after 20 overs, five runs short of the target set by Jharkhand in Cuttack.Rakesh Solanki had hammered a 58-ball 76 at the top of the order to ensure Tripura were favourites, until the second ball of the final over when he was run out. The equation then became 10 off four balls. Kaushal Acharjee and Manisankar Murasingh could only manage four.Jharkhand would feel they broke out of jail. Their batting was propped up by brisk thirties from Saurabh Tiwary (35), Ishank Jaggi (30) and Virat Singh (37), and only two of their bowlers managed to pick up wickets – Sarfaraz Ashraf with 1 for 27 and Kaushal Singh with 1 for 22 – but four of them – Rituraj Singh and Shahbaz Nadeem joining the two above – managed an economy rate of 7.5 or under. West ZoneA tight spell from Mehul Patel, during which he picked up the wickets of both Baroda openers, sent Gujarat on their way to a five-wicket win at the MCA Stadium. Coming on as first change, Mehul reduced Baroda to 26 for 2 in the sixth over, and they never really recovered from that position, with Aditya Waghmode’s run-a-ball 43 the only substantial score in their eventual total of 116 for 7.Gujarat lost their openers within the first five overs, with Rishi Arothe dismissing both of them, but Rujul Bhatt’s unbeaten 48-ball 40 ensured there weren’t too many hiccups after that, as they reached their target with an over left to play.Sheldon Jackson’s half-century and useful hands from captain Jaydev Shah (39), Chirag Jani (36* off 18 balls) and Cheteshwar Pujara (28) gave Saurashtra their second straight victory, a 61-run win over Mumbai in Pune.Jackson’s 37-ball 53, comprising five fours and three sixes, was largely instrumental in Saurashtra finishing with 177 after electing to bat. While three of Mumbai’s bowlers were hit for more than 11 runs an over, 15-year-old Sidak Singh, playing his second game, gave away only 15 runs in his four overs.Mumbai’s chase never really took off, and they ended with 116 for 9 in 20 overs, Suryakumar Yadav’s unbeaten 37 being the lone high point. Arpit Vasavada and Dharmendrasingh Jadeja bowled economically to claim two wickets apiece.