Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2021/22: Karnataka enter semis with thrilling Super Over win over Bengal

In a Super Over thriller, Karnataka defeated Bengal in the second quarter-final of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2021/22 at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi on Thursday.

Chasing 161, Bengal needed 20 to win off the last over. However, Ritwik Roy Chowdhury smashed the first two balls from Vidyadhar Patil for sixes, bringing the equation down to eight off four balls.

Akash Deep also found a boundary and it all came down to one off the last ball. Deep punched a full ball on the off-side and set off for a single. However, Manish Pandey grabbed the ball and hit the stumps at the non-striker’s end. Deep was caught well short of his crease and the match went into a Super Over.

KC Cariappa bowled a brilliant Super Over for Karnataka, conceding only five runs. He had Kaif Ahmad caught at long-off for a duck. Shreevats Goswami (5) was run out going for a non-existent second off the fourth ball, leaving Karnataka six to get for a place in the semi-finals.

Pandey took two off the first ball from Mukesh Kumar and slammed the second one over deep mid-wicket for a maximum to seal a famous win for Karnataka.

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Karun Nair, Writtick Chatterjee hit fifties as Karnataka and Bengal tie quarter-final

Bengal won the toss and elected to field in the second quarter-final in Delhi. Karun Nair starred with the bat for Karnataka, clobbering an unbeaten 55 in 29 balls. His impressive innings featured four fours and three sixes.

Opener Rohan Kadam (30) and Pandey (29) also made important contributions as Karnataka posted a challenging 160 for 5. Akash Deep (1/23) and Sayan Ghosh (1/27) bowled economical spells to ensure Karnataka did not run away with the match.

During Bengal’s chase, Writtick Chatterjee top-scored with a fighting 51 from 40 balls. Goswami got off to a brilliant start but was run out for a 10-ball 22. Karnataka kept chipping away at the wickets and when Chatterjee was dismissed, they had the upper hand as Bengal had slipped to 108 for 6.

Ritwik Roy Chowdhury (36* off 18) played an excellent cameo to keep Bengal in the hunt. The knock went in vain though, as Karnataka won the big moments and the match.