A round-up of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy T20 matches on Tuesday.
Bengal stunned heavyweights Karnataka by seven wickets with inspirational performances from pacer Mukesh Kumar and opener Abhimanyu Easwaran to storm into the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 quarter-finals, in Guwahati, on Tuesday.
However, Karnataka qualified as the second team from the group and will play in the pre-quarter-finals.
Mukesh (3/33) dismissed India Test opener Mayank Agarwal (4) and the talented Devdutt Padikkal (0) in a space of three balls as Karanataka failed to recover from the early blows to be restricted for a modest 134/8 at the Nehru Stadium.
In reply, Bengal opener and former captain Easwaran returned to form with a stroke-filled 49-ball 51 not out to steer the team to victory with two overs to spare.
Bengal, who made a group stage exit in the last edition, faced a must-win scenario after Mumbai hit the top gear in the final group B league thrashing Baroda by 82 runs to lift their run-rate to 0.990.
Indian Test vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane continued his sublime form to slam a fourth half-century in five matches (71 from 45 balls).
His opening partner Prithvi Shaw too was back among runs in a blistering 63-ball 83 (6x4, 4x6) as the duo fired all cylinders in an entertaining 153-run opening partnership from 100 balls, to power Mumbai to 193/2.
In reply, Baroda were restricted to 111/9 with young off-spinner Tanush Kotian claiming 4/16.
But the resounding win came a tad too late as Bengal ticked all the boxes to top Group B with a better net run rate (0.995) than Karnataka (0.379) who qualified finishing second after both the teams finished with 16 points.
Mumbai finished with 12 points with three wins and two losses.
Bengal think-tank had recalled the former skipper Abhimanyu in their match against Services on Monday after they suffered a shocking 10-run loss to Mumbai.
The move paid dividends as Abhimanyu played the role of an anchor after skipper Chatterjee (4) fell cheaply in the first over.
Abhimanyu stitched two small partnerships with Writtick Chatterjee (18) and Wriddhiman Saha (27) in the middle before Kaif Ahmed (34 not out) lent him match-winning support.
Earlier, Karun Nair was the top-scorer for Karnataka with a run-a-ball 44 (5x4) as none of their batter failed to convert their starts with Bengal bowlers taking wicket at regular intervals.
Left-arm spinner Pradipta Pramanik took 2/33, while Shahbaz Ahmad (1/15) and Akash Deep (1/19) were at their tidy best to restrict the run flow. Mukesh was also brilliant on the field and ran out BR Sharath.
Brief Scores:
Karnataka: 134/8 in 20 overs (Karun Nair 44, Mukesh Kumar 3/33) lost to Bengal 138/3 in 18 overs (Abhimanyu Easwaran 51 not out, Kaif Ahmed 34 not out) by seven wickets.
Mumbai: 193/2 in 20 overs (Prithvi Shaw 83, Ajinkya Rahane 71) beat Baroda 111/9 in 20 overs (Tanush Kotian 4/16) by 82 runs.
Chhattisgarh: 176/3 in 20 overs (Shashank Chandrakar 67, Sanjeet Desai 62 not out) beat Services 141 in 19.5 overs (Rahul Singh 64; Shubham Agarwal 5/13) by 35 runs.
TN beat Punjab; qualify for knockouts
Tamil Nadu on Tuesday defeated Punjab by seven wickets in their final Elite Group 'A' match to book a berth in the knockout phase of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy T20 tournament in Lucknow.
Maharashtra, who beat Goa by 73 runs in another match, also qualified from the group as the second placed team.
Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra recorded four wins each to finish with 16 points but the former took the top position on the basis of having beaten Ruturaj Gaikwad & Co in their meeting.
While TN will qualify for the quarter-finals as the group topper, Maharashtra will feature in the pre-quarterfinals having finished second in the group.
Skipper Vijay Shankar hammered a 40-ball 59 not out, while N Jagadeesan slammed 67 from 47 balls as Tamil Nadu overhauled the target of 146 in 17.1 overs.
Earlier, Punjab, who elected to bat, restricted to 145/6 in 20 overs with only opener Shubman Gill scoring 34 and Gurkeerat Singh Mann scoring 43 from 30 balls.
For Tamil Nadu, medium-pacer Sandeep Warrier was the best bowler with 2/20, while spinners R Sai Kishore (1/20) and B Aparajith (1/18) and seamer T Natarajan (1/43) were the other wicket-takers.
In the Maharashtra-Goa match, Gaikwad missed out on a half-century, falling for 44 while opener Yash Nahar hit a ton. He smashed a brilliant 103 not out from 68 balls, hitting six fours and three sixes to lift the team reach 177/3 in their 20 overs.
In reply, Goa was never in the hunt as the Maharashtra bowlers kept striking at regular intervals with left-arm spinner Satyajit Bachhav (3/27) doing most of the damage.
Brief scores:
Maharashtra 177/3 in 20 overs (Yash Nahar 103 not out, Ruturaj Gaikwad 44) beat Goa 104 all out in 18.1 overs (Shubham Ranjane 35, SS Bachhav 3/27) by 73 runs.
Punjab 145/6 in 20 overs (Gurkeerat Singh Mann 43 not out) lost to Tamil Nadu 148/3 in 17.1 overs (N Jagadeesan 67, Vijay Shankar 59 not out) by seven wickets.
Odisha 132/7 in 20 overs (Subhranshu Senapati 39, Suboth Bhati 4/27) lost to Pondicherry 136/4 in 19 overs (Paras Dogra 54 not out) by six wickets.
