Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2018 – Super League Day 3, Round-up

A roundup of the happenings in the Syed Mushtaq Ali trophy today.

Published - 24 Jan 2018, 01:14 IST | Updated - 24 Jan 2018, 01:14 IST

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The day-three in Super League Stage of Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy witnessed some nail-biting encounters. With Rajasthan upstaging Karnataka in the day three opener, to Uttar Pradesh skipper Suresh Raina’s efforts going in vain. Having played two matches each, all teams are looking rock solid making it difficult for other teams to reach the all-important final.

Ankit Lamba thrashes the Karnataka bowling

The first match was played between Rajasthan and Karnataka where Karnataka won the toss and asked the opposition to bat first. Rajasthan’s opener Ankit Lamba demolished Karnataka’s bowling with scintillating 58 runs off 47 balls, whacking six boundaries and a mighty six. His innings helped Rajasthan to reach 160 run mark asking the opposition to play their best cricket. In reply, wicket kept tumbling for Karnataka and soon they were bowled out for a mere score of 138 runs giving Rajasthan as many as two wins, which eventually helped them to reach the top of the table.

The second encounter was scheduled to take place between Punjab and Jharkhand but their match was shifted to Eden Gardens and eventually, Delhi played Bengal. The all-important toss went in favour of Bengal and they decided to bat first. The top three trios of Bengal Vivek Singh, Sudip Chatterjee, and Shreevats Goswami trumped a superlative batting effort and helped Bengal post 170 runs. The match took the interesting twist and turn but it was Bengal who kept their nerves and won the match by 3 runs.

The third match was played between two top teams of Group B. Captain Suresh Raina once again smacked the ball all around the park and continued his good run. Scoring 61 runs off 41 deliveries, UP team scored 162 runs for the loss of 4 wickets. However, the day wicket of Eden Gardens asked batsman to score bit more than they did. Up bowlers did what they could, but the low score on a batting friendly wicket led Tamil Nadu have their first win of SSL Stage.

The reschedule match finally took place between Punjab and Jharkhand where Harbhajan Singh won the toss and decided to bat first. He believed that wicket will get slower under lights, which eventually would assist his fast bowlers. Punjab lost wickets in every third over, with a cracker spell from Jharkhand’s captain Varun Aaron. With few cameos, Punjab reached 149 run mark. Jharkhand almost bottled the run chase but fortunately for them, Ishan Kishan scored a blistering half-century. Punjab Team fought hard but end effort was in vain.