Bengal, Punjab register consecutive wins on Day 3 of 2021 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy

Bengal won their second game running in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy after beating Jharkhand by 16 runs in an Elite Group B match, at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata. Meanwhile, Punjab thrashed Karnataka by nine wickets in the high-profile Elite Group A clash, at the KSCA Cricket Ground in Alur.

Batting first, defending champions Karnataka – led by Karun Nair – were restricted to a tame 125 for 8, thanks to the pace bowling duo of Siddharth Kaul and Arshdeep Singh. While Kaul picked 4 for 26 including a hat-trick, Singh returned figures of 2 for 18. In reply, wicketkeeper-batsman Prabhsimran Singh smashed an unbeaten 52-ball 89 to guide Punjab home with 32 balls in hand.

In Kolkata, Bengal opener Vivek Singh smashed the first century of this season’s Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. Even though fast bowler Monu Kumar picked three important wickets at the death, the 27-year-old’s 64-ball ton powered Bengal to 161 for 6. Chasing 162 to get their first win, Ishan Kishan’s side fell short by 16 runs as all seven Bengal bowlers claimed wickets.

In the other Elite Group B encounter, Hyderabad rode captain Tanmay Agarwal and Tilak Varma’s 68-run second-wicket stand to reach 153 for 8. Govinda Poddar (50 off 33) and Subhranshu Senapati (43* off 36) put on a solid show for Odisha, but they eventually finished six runs adrift.

Twin half-centuries from Mrunal Devdhar (57 off 52) and Shivam Chaudhary (56* off 39) helped Railways rack up their second consecutive victory, by defeating a formidable Uttar Pradesh side by eight wickets.

In the third Elite Group A clash, an all-round bowling effort saw Jammu and Kashmir post their first win of the season, as the Parvez Rasool-led side romped to a seven-wicket win against Tripura.

In the Elite Group C games in Vadodara, Gujarat and Baroda registered successive victories to occupy first and second places respectively in the table.

An 80-run sixth-wicket alliance between Chirag Gandhi (38* off 28) and Ripal Patel (41* off 20) carried Gujarat to 172 for 5. Their bowlers – led by Piyush Chawla (3 for 12) – were equal to the task as Uttarakhand folded for a meagre 99 for 8.

Krunal Pandya’s Baroda, however, had a hard-fought win after overhauling Himachal Pradesh’s 109 all out with just one over and four wickets remaining.

The only other Elite Group C contest between Maharashtra and Chattisgarh turned out to be a run-fest. After Harpreet Singh’s Chattisgarh reached an imposing 192 for 5, Kedar Jadhav (84* off 45) and Naushad Shaikh (78* off 44) put on an unconquered 166-run stand to fashion a last-ball victory by eight wickets.

*Note: Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, Elite Group B: Tamil Nadu v Assam is scheduled at 7 PM IST.

Follow the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2021 live scores here.

---

Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2021 Day 3 brief scorecards

Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2021: Karnataka v Punjab, Elite Group A in Alur

Karnataka 125/8 (Rohan Kadam 32, Devdutt Padikkal 19, Siddharth Kaul 4/26, Arshdeep Singh 2/18) lost to Punjab 127/1 in 14.4 overs (Prabhsimran Singh 89*, Abhishek Sharma 30, Krishnappa Gowtham 1/28) by 9 wickets.

Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2021: Railways v Uttar Pradesh, Elite Group A in Alur

Uttar Pradesh 133/9 (Karan Sharma 55, Bhuvneshwar Kumar 24*, Dhrushant 2/26, Harsh Tyagi 2/17) lost to Railways 137/2 in 17.4 overs (Shivam Chaudhary 56*, Mrunal Devdhar 57, Bhuvneshwar Kumar 1/21) by 8 wickets.

Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2021: Jammu and Kashmir v Tripura, Elite Group A in Alur

Tripura 93 (Udiyan Bose 28, Sankar Paul 27, Aquib Nabi 3/10, Abid Mushtaq 2/13) lost to Jammu and Kashmir 94/3 in 14.5 overs (Suryansh Raina 33, Shubham Pandir 21*, Manisankar Murasingh 2/19, Sankar Paul 1/24) by 7 wickets.

Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2021: Bengal v Jharkhand, Elite Group B in Kolkata

Bengal 161/6 (Vivek Singh 100*, Shreevats Goswami 27, Monu Kumar 3/30, Rahul Shukla 2/42) beat Jharkhand 145/9 (Virat Singh 47, Utkarsh Singh 28, Ishan Porel 3/34, Writtick Chatterjee 2/25) by 16 runs.

Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2021: Odisha v Hyderabad, Elite Group B in Kolkata

Hyderabad 153/8 (Tilak Varma 44, Tanmay Agarwal 34, Suryakant Pradhan 3/34, Ankit Yadav 2/23) beat Odisha 147/4 (Govinda Poddar 50, Subhranshu Senapati 43*, Chama Milind 2/24, Telukupalli Ravi Teja 2/40) by 6 runs.

Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2021: Gujarat v Uttarakhand, Elite Group C in Vadodara

Gujarat 172/5 (Priyank Panchal 46, Ripal Patel 41*, Dikshanshu Negi 2/25, Iqbal Abdulla 2/31) beat Uttarakhand 99/8 (Jay Gokul Bista 26, Karn Veer Kaushal 25, Piyush Chawla 3/12, Arzan Nagwaswalla 2/19) by 73 runs.

Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2021: Maharashtra v Chattisgarh, Elite Group C in Vadodara

Chattisgarh 192/5 (Rishabh Tiwari 44, Shashank Chandraker 44, Manoj Ingale 2/43, Azim Kazi 1/9) lost to Maharashtra 196/2 in 20 overs (Kedar Jadhav 84*, Naushad Shaikh 78*, Veer Pratap Singh 1/23, Vishal Kushwah 1/46) by 8 wickets.

Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2021: Baroda v Himachal Pradesh, Elite Group C in Vadodara

Himachal Pradesh 109 (Prashant Chopra 39, Amit Kumar 19, Lukman Meriwala 3/13, Babashafi Pathan 3/9) lost to Baroda 112/6 in 19 overs (Kedar Devdhar 49*, Abhimanyu Rajput 15, Vaibhav Arora 2/34, Mayank Dagar 1/15) by 4 wickets.