Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy round-up: Prithvi Shaw shines for Mumbai, Pujara continues good form

Prithvi Shaw struck form to help Mumbai defeat Goa by six wickets in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy on Monday.

The 19-year-old, who has returned to competitive cricket after sustaining a shoulder injury during India’s tour of Australia last year, scored a quickfire 71 off 47 to take Mumbai past Goa’s total of 140.

Shaw failed to contribute in Mumbai’s first three victories in the tournament, but he was at his brutal best against Goa on Monday. The right-handed opener stroked five boundaries and seven sixes in his innings.

Elsewhere, Cheteshwar Pujara continued his good form in Saurashtra’s seven-wicket win against Sikkim. The experienced right-hander, who scored a century at the start of the tournament, top-scored with 39 off 22 to help his team breeze past Sikkim’s paltry total of 75.

Delhi trounce Kerala

Nitish Rana’s unbeaten half-century guided Delhi to a seven-wicket win over Kerala in a Group ‘A’ match in Mulapadu on Monday.

In other matches, Manipur trounced Nagaland by 10 wickets in a battle of newcomers, while Jammu and Kashmir defeated Andhra Pradesh by five wickets.

In the Delhi-Kerala match, the latter won the toss and chose to bat but couldn’t make the most of it, posting a modest 139/7 in 20 overs.

Skipper Ishant Sharma struck the first blow for Delhi, having KB Arun Karthick caught and bowled for a duck. Kerala never really got going as the impressive Navdeep Saini got Rohan Prem [8] with a return catch.

A fifth-wicket partnership of 60 runs between captain Sachin Baby [37] and Vinoop Sheela Manoharan [38] sparked a brief revival but Kerala lost their way towards the end of the innings, finishing with just 139.

All the Delhi bowlers got a wicket each, with Saini [1/17 with 11 dot balls] being the most impressive of the lot.

Hiten Dalal [28, 20 balls, 1X4, 3X6] and Unmukt Chand [33, 2X6] gave Delhi a strong start, before the former was bowled by Basil Thampi in the fifth over.

Dhruv Shorey didn’t last too long, falling eight runs later for 4, but Chand and Rana [52, 36 balls, 4X4, 2X6] were involved in a solid partnership.

Chand and Rana took the match away from Kerala by rotating the strike and also coming up with big hits now and then. Chand, in particular, hit two massive sixes, while Rana opened up after starting slowly.

Kerala struck a blow when Sandeep Warrier had Chand caught by Daryl S Ferrario. However, the left-handed Rana made sure that there were no hiccups as he guided the team home in Himmat Singh’s company.

It was Delhi’s third win on the trot after losing the opening match to Jharkhand, and they are now on 12 points. Jharkhand heads Group ‘A’ with 12 points from three games.

In the afternoon game, J&K overhauled Andhra’s total of 146 with nine balls to spare to register a five-wicket win.

Karnataka cruise to fourth win

Karnataka thrashed minnows Mizoram by 137 runs to cruise to their fourth win on the trot and consolidate the position atop Group D in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Twenty20 tournament here Monday.

Opting to bat, Karnataka toyed with the Mizoram attack to post a huge 242/4 in the stipulated 20 overs.

In reply, Mizoram were restricted to 105/6 with leg-spinner Shreyas Gopal claiming 4 for 8 from his four overs to hand his team a simple win at the Barabati Stadium.

Karnataka have 16 points from four matches, four points clear of Assam, who jumped to second spot following their stunning 26-run win over former champions Bengal at the Barabati Stadium.

At the DRIEMS Ground in Tangi on the outskirts of Cuttack, it was mayhem by the Karnataka batsmen.

First, Rohan Kadam (78 from 51 balls; 6x4, 3x6) and Mayank Agarwal (20 from 14 balls; 3x4) put on a 52-run opening stand in just 4.2 overs.

After Agarwal departed, Karun Nair joined the party and plundered 71 off just 33 balls, smashing five sixes and an equal number of boundaries to set the tone.

Later skipper Manish Pandey struck 33 not out from 13 balls (3x4, 1x6) with Jagadeesha Suchith also finishing on a high with his eight ball 26 not out (3x4, 2x6).

At the Barabati Stadium, Sibsankar Roy hit a brilliant 83 off 53 balls (12x4, 1x6) to help Assam recover from 10/2 inside third over, following Ashok Dinda’s double blow in successive overs.

Roy was eventually run out by Abhimanyu Easwaran but Riyan Parag’s quickfire 52 from 47 balls ensured Assam reach a competitive 162/5.

Dinda finished with impressive figures of 4/17 but that did not help the cause as Bengal put up yet another sloppy batting display to suffer their second defeat.

(With inputs from Press Trust of India)