Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2018: Karnataka top South Zone; Tamil Nadu progress after win

Delhi opener Rishabh Pant blasted the second-fastest T20 century – and the fastest by an Indian – when he bashed the Himachal Pradesh bowlers en route to a 32-ball hundred. The left-hander remained unbeaten on 116 off merely 38 balls in a firing innings in which he smacked 8 fours and 12 sixes.

His opening partner Gautam Gambhir stood like a mere spectator at the other end, not out on 30 from 33 balls with 4 fours. Five of six Himachal bowlers were hit for ten or more than ten an over – the harshest treatment was reserved for Kanwar Abhinay, who went for 41 in 2 overs – as Pant struck at will at the Feroz Shah Kotla.

Having elected to bowl first, captain Pradeep Sangwan bagged 2/39 as the Himachal batsmen failed to capitalise after getting good starts. Skipper Prashant Chopra got a quiet 30 before being run out, even as Ankush Bains fell for 15. Paras Dogra got 21 and Nikhil Gangta hit a quickfire 40 off 27 deliveries. No substantial contribution limited their total.

Himachal's highest partnership remained only 42 as they struggled to accumulate crucial runs in the middle. The finishing touches to their innings were provided by Rishi Dhawan, who powered his way to 23* with 2 sixes and took Himachal to 144/8.

In the other matches, Tamil Nadu beat Hyderabad by 16 runs in a high-scoring game, a result which gave them the second position in the South Zone group and knocked Hyderabad out. Karnataka beat Kerala in the same group to top the table and qualify for the next round along with Tamil Nadu.

Brief Scores:

Central Zone

Madhya Pradesh 154/5 in 19.3 overs (Ojha 58; Shivendra 2/22, Kushwah 2/22) beat Chattisgarh 150/7 in 20 overs (Khare 47, Kushwah 32; Avesh 3/29) by 5 wickets

North Zone

Delhi 148/0 in 11.4 overs (Pant 116*, Gambhir 30*) beat Himachal Pradesh 144/8 in 20 overs (Gangta 40, Chopra 30; Sangwan 2/39) by 10 wickets

Jammu & Kashmir 164/3 in 16.2 overs (I Singh 43*, Dar 38*; Harbhajan 2/12) beat Punjab 141 in 19 overs (Vohra 53, Gurkeerat 34; Raza 4/16) by 23 runs

South Zone

Tamil Nadu 193/7 in 20 overs (Sanjay Yadav 42, Shankar 40; Hassan 3/40) beat Hyderabad 177/8 in 20 overs (T Agarwal 59, Rayudu 53; Washington 3/29) by 16 runs

Karnataka 181/6 in 20 overs (M Agarwal 86, Samarth 27; Asif 2/34) beat Kerala 161 in 19.2 overs (Samson 71, Vinod 46; Dubey 3/35) by 20 runs

Andhra 201/4 in 20 overs (Bhui 65, Vihari 57; Misal 1/37) beat Goa 183/6 in 20 overs (Asnodkar 72, Kamat 43; Bhatt 2/30) by 18 runs

East Zone

Bengal 170/1 in 18 overs (Goswami 82*, Vivek Singh 71; Negi 1/15) beat Tripura 169/4 in 20 overs (S Patel 73, Gurinder 25; Tiwary 1/14) by 9 wickets

Jharkhand 149/2 in 16 overs (Jaggi 68*, Kishan 36; Roy 1/16) beat Assam 148/6 in 20 overs (Roy 52, Sinha 40; Monu 3/23) by 8 wickets