Stats: Sikkim and Manipur record low totals in Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 Trophy

A couple of low totals were witnessed on Thursday in the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 Trophy as the established states took on the new entrants. In the Group E match played in the morning, Sikkim were bundled out for 49 runs against Gujarat. A couple of hours later, Manipur were restricted to just 55 in the Group B match against Tamil Nadu. An interesting fact in Manipur’s innings was none of the batsmen got to double digits.

The No.8 batsman Kabrambam Meitei top-scored for his team with nine runs that included one of the two fours hit by Manipur throughout their innings. Manipur thus recorded only the 6th instance in the Twenty20 format where all the 11 players batted in an innings with none of them reaching double digits. Turkey team recorded it twice in three days in the T20I format in August this year. Tripura in 2009 against Jharkhand recorded the first such instance in a Syed Mushtaq Ali game.

The totals of 49 and 55 by Sikkim and Manipur respectively find a place in top five lowest totals in the T20 cricket on Indian soil. Tripura recorded the lowest of 30 in 2009/10 against Jharkhand while Assam got bowled out for 44 in 2015/16 against Delhi. Sikkim tied along with the famous 49/10 by the Royal Challengers Bangalore in 2017 IPL. Sikkim and Manipur didn’t score much but lasted 19.3 overs and 18.4 respectively. Their run rate of 2.51 and 2.94 are currently the 3rd and 6th in the list of lowest run-rate in a completed T20 inning.

The targets of 50 and 56 were too less for Gujarat and Tamil Nadu as they chased them down with more than 15 overs to spare. Gujarat had a 47-run opening stand in 4 overs chasing 49 as Urvil Patel got out after a 12-ball 26. They needed two more deliveries to finish the chase. Gujarat’s win with 94 balls to spare stood at No.5 in the biggest T20 wins in terms of balls to spare. However, their chase in 4.2 overs was the quickest while chasing a target of 50 and more runs.

Gujarat, however, held the record for barely 3 hours as Tamil Nadu finished their chase of 56 runs in 4.1 overs; one ball less than what Gujarat needed against Sikkim. Murali Vijay was run out for a 14-ball 33 after a 50-run opening stand in only 3.5 overs. Washington Sundar scored 15* off 10 as Tamil Nadu reached 58 in 4.1 overs to finish off the match. The quickest T20 chase is recorded by Austria during a T20I against Turkey where they chased down the target of 33 runs in 2.4 overs only.

(Stats as on November 14, 2019)