Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2016: Round 1 Review

1. Wriddhiman, Shami wins it for Bengal

Indian wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha provided the perfect start, as Bengal posted 185 on the board. Sayan Mondal too played a quick knock of 50 from 41 balls. An opening stand of 138 runs, made way for a big finish. Chasing 186, Hyderabad faltered in no  time. Comeback man Mohammad Shami bent his back to good effect, picking up three wickets for 18 runs. Spinner Pragyan Ojha also chipped in with three wickets, as Bengal won the contest by 61 runs.

Brief Scores:

Bengal- 185/4 (Saha 81; Milind 2/45)

Hyderabad- 124 (Reddy 32; Shami 3/18)

2. Himachal Pradesh stuns defending champions

Nagpur witnessed a cracking contest between Gujarat and Himachal, in which the defending champions piled up 151/6 in 20 over but went down against a spirited Himachal Pradesh line up. Chasing 152, HP lost their first stick in the very first ball but didn’t look back from there on. Prashant Chopra scored  a gritty 89 while Paras Dogra scored a breezing 23-ball 36.

Brief Scores:

Gujarat- 151/6 (Bhatt 40; Chauhan 2/32)

Himachal Pradesh- 152/5 (Chopra 89; Kalaria 2/21)

3. Madhya Pradesh wins a low-scoring contest.

Harpreet Singh’s  unbeaten 44-ball 40 and Sohraab Dhaliwal’s 11-ball 25 helped MP pep past Andhra in the first round of the tournament. Batting first, Andhra were shot for 95, with Ishwar Pandey being the wrecker in chief, picked up four wickets for 20  runs in his four overs. Andhra will have to pull up their socks in the shorter formats after this bitter defeat.

Brief Scores:

Andhra- 95 (Sirla 22; Iyer 2/10)

Madhya Pradesh- 96/5 (Singh 40; Bandaru 2/18)

4. UP makes a clinical finish

Kedar Jadhav celebrated his new IPL contract with a 29-ball 52 but Piyush Chawla’s four wickets floored Maharashtra in no time. UP too looked shaky at the start but Umang Sharma and Akshdeep Nath guided the team home without no more hiccups.

Brief Scores:

Maharashtra- 109/7 (Jadhav 52*; Chawla 4/28)

UP- 113/3 (Gupta 35; Kazi 1/18)

5. Mumbai bowlers lift their side to a convincing win

Mumbai’s bowling attack had a good outing as each of the bowlers picked up two wickets apiece. Abhishek  Yadav’s 33 was the only bright point, as Odisha otherwise looked pretty dull. Chasing a target of 92, Mumbai never looked in knee deep trouble, though Odisha did bowl some good deliveries to trouble the batters early on. Mumbai won the game by 6 wickets, as Odisha were left wanting.

Brief Scores:

Odisha- 91/10 (Yadav 33;Shardul 2/11)

Mumbai- 95/4 (Tare 32; Behera 2/14)

6. Rajesh Bishnoi’s late burst sends Punjab packing

Mandeep Singh’s 76 went in vain as Rajasthan reached the finishing line, courtesy some thrilling strokeplay by Rajesh Bishnoi. Yuvraj Singh too failed to tickle the score, as Rajat Bhatia bowled beautifully to scalp two wickets for 16 runs. Apart from Bishnoi, Dishant Yagnik’s cameo was instrumental in Rajasthan winning the game.

Brief Scores:

Punjab- 130/6 (Mandeep 76*; Bhatia 2/16)

Rajasthan- 133/6 (Bishnoi 58; Yuvraj 2/16)

7. Delhi dazzles with big win

Saurabh’s 55-ball 118 went in vain, as Delhi went on to chase a daunting 211 with four balls to spare. Aditya Kaushik made a 36-ball 53 while Unmukt Chand gave a quick start, thanks to his 38 from 19 balls. Delhi needed just 11 in the last couple of overs and the game was over before Railways could realise.

Brief Scores:

Railways- 210/2 (Saurabh 118; Negi 1/48)

Delhi- 214/6 (Aditya 53; Upadhyay 2/36)

8. Saurashtra starts with a win

Cheteshwar Pujara enjoyed his outing, scoring 67 runs to push his side to 144. S.Majumder bagged two wickets for 22. Chasing 145, Tripura went down without a fight. Only U.Bose and N.Sen got into double figures, as the chasers were wrapped up for 78 runs.

Brief Scores:

Saurashtra- 144 (Pujara 67; Majumder 2/22)

Tripura- 78 (Bose 12; Punia 3/19)

9. Kerala bags 4 points

Bandeep Singh and Parvez Rasool scored handy thirties to take J&K’s total to 126 in 20 overs. Chasing the modest total, Rohan Prem  batted sensibly and Raiphi Gomez remained not out to scale the target with eight balls to spare.

Brief Scores:

J&K- 126/6 (Bandeep 37; Gomez 2/19)

Kerala- 129/5 ( Prem 59; Mudhasir 2/27)

10. Assam’s poor form continues as Baroda wins big

Baroda posted 162 in 20 overs, courtesy a 33-ball 48 by Kedar Devdhar and a quickfire 47 by Deepak Hooda. Assam lacked the application, as they were restricted to 22/5 before Syed Mohammed’s unbeaten 42 acted as a saving grace.  Skipper Irfan Pathan bagged five wickets for 13 runs, as Baroda finished the game with a 49-run win.

Brief Scores:

Baroda- 164/8 (Kedar 48; Syed 2/28)

Assam- 116/9 ( Syed 42*; Pathan 5/13)

11. Karnataka stumped by Services

Skipper Vinay Kumar played as a lone warrior as Karnataka were wrapped up for 121. Vinay Kumar made 38 runs while Robin Uthappa chipped in with a 11-ball 22. Aanshul Gupta scored a solid 27 runs and Yashpal Singh came up with a gritty 25. Cariappa’s two wickets brought Karnataka back in the game but Services chased the total with an over to spare.

Brief Scores:

Karnataka- 121/9 (Vinay Kumar 38; Raj 3/19)

Services- 122/7 (Gupta 27; Cariappa 2/20)

12. Tamil Nadu wins a one-sided contest

Antony Dhas picked up four wickets, as Haryana were bundled out for 113. For TN, S.Aniruda remained unbeaten on 54 and Baba Aparajith remained not out on 49. They chased down 114 with four overs to spare. The crowd missed out on an entertaining element as Virender Sehwag failed to fire for Haryana.

Brief Scores:

Haryana- 113 (Saini 50; Dhas 4/10)

Tamil Nadu- 116/1 (Aniruddha 54)

Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2016: Irfan Pathan’s 5-wicket hauls leads Baroda to a win