Karnataka, Hyderabad Move Into Semis With Contrasting Wins In Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy

In the quarter-finals stage of the 2021 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, three-time champions Karnataka and Hyderabad registered contrasting wins to progress into semi-finals. While Karnataka had to take the super over route in beating Bengal, Hyderabad had no such issues, defeating Gujarat by 30 runs.

In the second quarter-final at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, Karnataka had scored 160/5 after 20 overs. After suffering an early loss of Sharath BR, Rohan Kadam and captain Manish Pandey tried to resurrect the innings. But Pandey couldn't move the innings to second gear, departing for a 34-ball 29. It took a 29-ball 55 from Karun Nair to push the team towards a par total. Nair was also helped by Abhinav Manohar, who slammed three fours and a six in his 9-ball 19. Post Manohar's dismissal, Nair and Aniruddha Joshi hit five boundaries in the last two overs as Karnataka scored 61 runs off the last five overs.

Chasing 161, Bengal had a flying start as Shreevats Goswami hit Vijaykumar Vyshak for 20 runs in the opening over. They reached 52 by the end of power-play but had lost Goswami, Abhishek Das and Sudip Chatterjee till then. Writtick Chatterjee (51 off 40 balls) and Kaif Ahmed (20 off 26 balls) tried to gain control of the match. But with the duo and Shahbaz Ahmed falling in quick succession, 20 were needed off the final over. Ritwik Chowdhary (36 not out off 18 balls) hit the first two balls of the final over from Patil for sixes. But the match went into Super Over as Akash Deep was run out by Pandey from short cover off the final ball with one run required.

In the Super Over, Bengal could only make 5/2 in four balls. While Kaif was bowled by KC Cariappa, Goswami was run out for the second time in the same day. Pandey needed a brace and a six over deep mid-wicket on the two balls to take Karnataka into the semi-finals.

Meanwhile, in the fourth quarter-final at the Air Force Ground in Palam, Tilak Verma (75 off 50 balls) and T Ravi Teja (3/27) were Hyderabad's stars in their win over Gujarat. Inserted into batting first, Hyderabad lost Pragnay Reddy early. But a 46-run partnership between Tanmay Agarwal and Varma ensured that Hyderabad had no further hiccups in power-play. Though they slowed down a bit when Varma batted alongside Himalay Agarwal (23 off 26 balls), a 50-run stand in 28 deliveries between Varma and Rahul Buddhi (25 not out off 16 balls) helped reach Hyderabad to 158/5 in 20 overs. While Varma hit five fours and two sixes, Buddhi smacked three fours and a six to remain unbeaten.

In reply, Gujarat slipped to 33/3 after 8 overs as the top three of Urvil Patel, Dhruv Raval and Saurav Chauhan fell without contributing much. Though Het Patel (25) and Piyush Chawla (25) and Ripal Patel (35) tried to chase down the total, the trio never looked in sight to cover up the damage done in the first eight overs, eventually falling well short of the target.

Brief scores; Karnataka: 160/5 in 20 overs (Karun Nair 55 not out, Rohan Kadam 30, Akash Deep 1/23) tied with Bengal: 160/8 in 20 overs (Writtick Chatterjee 51, Ritwik Chowdhury 36 not out, Darshan MB 3/26, J Suchith 2/24). Super Over: Bengal 5/2, Karnataka 8/0

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Hyderabad: 158/5 in 20 overs (Tilak Varma 75, Tanmay Agarwal 31, Piyush Chawla 2/9, Chintan Gaja 2/32) beat Gujarat: 128/8 in 20 overs (Ripal Patel 35, Piyush Chawla 20, T Ravi Teja 3/27, CV Milind 2/28) by 30 runs.