Last-ball disaster for Mumbai

                                                                   

Karnataka captain Vinay Kumar effected a run out off the last ball to help his team snatch a one-run win over Mumbai in a Group D league encounter of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy at the DRIEMS ground here on Sunday.

In the other matches of the day at the Barabati Stadium, Uttar Pradesh beat Odisha by 32 runs to reach the top of the standings with eight points, while Maharashtra picked up its first points defeating Services by 31 runs.

Vinay’s final over tilted the balance in Karnataka’s favour as he picked up two wickets off the last two balls. Put in, Karnataka lost opener Mayank Agarwal early but Mohammad Taha and Robin Uthappa put the side on track with a 64-run partnership for the second wicket.

Uthappa survived two confident leg-before shouts off Mumbai pacer Shardul Thakur, but overcame the blues to score 30 (25b, 4x4, 6x1). Taha (37, 32b, 4x4, 6x1) was equally efficient before Stuart Binny hammered 38 off just 19 deliveries with three hits to the boundary and two over it.

Karnataka reached 162 and could have got a bigger score had it not lost its final three wickets off the last three deliveries of the 20th over bowled by Rohan Raje (the final wicket was a run out).

Aggressive efforts from opener Shreyas Iyer (32, 29b, 4x4, 6x1) and captain Aditya Tare (28, 19b, 3x4, 1x6) helped Mumbai make a strong start. Abhishek Nayar then took over, hitting four sixes and two boundaries in his 32-ball 49.

With Mumbai needing 12 off the final over, Nayar hit a six off the first ball before Vinay tied him down. The batsman edged behind while trying to score the winning runs off the penultimate ball. With two needed off the final delivery, Pravin Tambe pushed straight back to Vinay who ran him out easily.

Second win for UP

Uttar Pradesh, after taming Maharashtra in the first round, strengthened its claim for a knock-out spot with a win over Odisha. Opener Prashant Gupta 53 (40b, 5x4, 1x6) and Eklavya Dwivedi (47, 46b, 5x4, 1x6), who came in at No. 3, did the bulk of the scoring for UP which scored 150 for five after being asked to bat.

Odisha could reach just 118 for eight in the face of some disciplined bowling by Amit Mishra and company.

The scores:

Karnataka 162 in 20 overs (Mohammad Taha 37, Robin Uthappa 30, Stuart Binny 38, Dhawal Kulkarni three for 35, Rohan Raje three for 29) bt Mumbai 161 in 20 overs (Shreyas Iyer 32, Aditya Tare 28, Abhishek Nair 49, Stuart Binny two for 20, S. Arvind two for 32). Karnataka 4 (4), Mumbai 0 (4).

Maharashtra 159 for eight in 20 overs (Nikhil Naik 69, Kedar Jadhav 36, Nitin Yadav three for 50, Raushan Raj two for 21) bt Services 128 in 18.3 overs (Rajat Paliwal 25, Soumya Ranjan Swain 27, Shamshuzama Kazi three for 25, Swapnil Gugale three for 18). Maharashtra 4 (4), Services 0 (4).

Uttar Pradesh 150 for five in 20 overs (Prashant Gupta 53, Eklavya Dwivedi 47, Biplab Samantray two for 17) bt Odisha 118 for eight in 20 overs (P. Roshan Kumar Rao 31, Amit Mishra two for 32, Kuldeep Yadav two for 24). UP 4 (8), Odisha 0 (0).