Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2018: Rajasthan inch closer to final; Karnataka thrash Jharkhand by 123 runs

Rajasthan have taken another step towards a place in the final of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy by clinching a 17-run win against Mumbai at Eden Gardens and making it three wins out of three in the Super League stage. Though their innings started on a shaky note – they were 3 down for 12 in the third over with two out of the top three gone for a duck – teenager Mahipal Lomror and wicket-keeper Chetan Bist took it upon themselves to repair the damage.

A partnership of 86 between the pair steadied the ship before Shivam Dubey got his only wicket in an expensive spell by getting Bist for 41, a knock comprising 3 fours and 2 sixes. But his wicket did not stall the Rajasthan innings as Lomror found Tajinder Singh to drive them forward. Their association of 75 runs, in which the latter whacked 43 off only 17 balls, and Lomror's score of 74 – with four boundaries and sixes each – ensured Rajasthan took their score to 175/6. For Mumbai, Dhawal Kulkarni got 3/35, including the wicket of Lomror off the last ball of the innings.

Mumbai, having won one out of their two previous games, started aggressively to add 54 for the first wicket before Deepak Chahar got Jay Bista for 29. Off-spinner Tajinder then got into the action with the ball, as he dismissed Siddesh Lad and captain Aditya Tare for low scores. Suryakumar Yadav tried his best to complement opener Akhil Herwadkar but Chahar interfered again to dismiss Herwadkar for 68, after which the Mumbai batting fell apart. Chahar ended with 3/27 and Tajinder with 2/21 as Mumbai collapsed to 158.

In another match, Karnataka thrashed Jharkhand by 123 runs after posting 201 courtesy a hundred by captain Karun Nair. The opener slammed 100 from 52 balls, including 8 fours and 7 sixes, while the Jharkhand chase never took off with wickets at regular intervals. They folded up for 78 in a shambolic batting performance as Sreenath Aravind took 2/6 and Prasidh Krishna 2/8.

Brief Scores:

Group A

Rajasthan 175/6 in 20 overs (Lomror 74, Tajinder 43; Kulkarni 3/35) beat Mumbai 158/8 in 20 overs (Herwadkar 68; Chahar 3/27, Tajinder 2/21) by 17 runs

Karnataka 201/4 in 20 overs (Nair 100, Deshpande 56; Monu 2/31) beat Jharkhand 78 in 14.2 overs (Vikash 25; Aravind 2/6, Krishna 2/8) by 123 runs

Group B

Uttar Pradesh 195/3 in 18.4 overs (U Sharma 95, Raina 56; K Pandya 1/25) beat Baroda 192/3 in 20 overs (U Patel 96, Hooda 45; Mohsin 2/38) by 7 wickets

Bengal 134/3 in 16.2 overs (S Chatterjee 51*, W Chatterjee 44; Davidson 1/16) beat Tamil Nadu 129/9 in 20 overs (Anirudha 37; Seth 3/26, Gani 2/16) by 7 wickets.