Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy: Wadhwan guides J&K to 4-wicket win; Rajasthan beat Ranji champions Vidarbha

Opener Jatin Wadhwan cracked a 61-ball 70 to guide Jammu and Kashmir to a four-wicket win over Haryana in a T20 match of the Syed Mushtaq Ali tournament in New Delhi on Saturday.

Umar Nazir (3/16) and M Gupta (3/26) picked up three wickets each as J & K dished out a disciplined bowling performance to dismiss Haryana for 116 in 19.2 overs after skipper Parvez Rasool won the toss and decided to field.

J&K then returned to overhaul the target, reaching 122 for six in 18.4 overs, courtesy a superb half-century by Wadhwan.

For Haryana, Harshal Patel (28 runs, 2/18) produced an all-round effort but it was not enough as his team suffered their third defeat in the tournament.

In another North Zone match, Services defeated Himachal Pradesh by five wickets, riding on superb bowling efforts by Diwesh Pathania (3/16) and Avishek Sinha (2/12).

Put into bat, Himachal Pradesh were restricted to 119 for 8 in stipulated 20 overs with Rishi Dhawan (27) emerging as the highest scorer.

Services then romped home, scoring 122 for five in 18.1 overs, riding on some useful contributions from opener NH Verma (25), Ravi Chauhan (21) and AR Pachhara (23).

In Raipur, Opener Aditya N Garhwal struck an unbeaten 51 as Rajasthan defeated Ranji Trophy champions Vidarbha by six wickets.

Opting to bat after the coin landed in Faiz Fazal's favour, Vidarbha scored 131 for eight in the allotted 20 overs.
Ganesh Satish top-scored with 39 off 31 balls, while Apoorv Wankhade was the team's second highest scorer with 24 at the Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Stadium.

Skipper Fazal contributed 20 and Karn Sahrma made a 17- ball 22.

In reply, Rajasthan were off to a brisk start with the openers Garhwal and Ankit S Lamba (26) putting on 42 runs in just over five overs.

Garhwal struck three boundaries and a six during his 54- ball knock and along with T N Dhillon, who remained unbeaten on 26, guided Rajastahn to victory with two overs to spare.

This was Vidarbha's first defeat in the Central Zone leg of the tournament.

In the day's other central zone match, Uttar Pradesh beat Railways by seven wickets.

Sent into bat, Railways scored 132 for eight, and UP chased down the target of 133 with 12 balls remaining.

In another clash, Gujarat defeated Saurashtra by eight wickets in the West Zone Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 League opener at the SCA Stadium in Rajkot.

Put into bat, Saurashtra were bundled out for a meagre 133 with Gujarat bowler J K Parmar picking up a 4-wicket haul.

Parmar returned with impressive figures of 4-17 and was superbly aided by Piyush Chawla (2-24), Ishwar Chaudhary (2-30), skipper Axar Patel (1-20) and Karan Patel (1-22).

For Saurashtra, Vishvarajsinh Jadeja top scored with 48 in 32 balls lacing three boundaries and a six.

But Prerak Mankad (20), A V Vasavada (19) and Shaurya Sanandia (18) failed to convert their starts.

Chasing 134, Gujarat opener Priyank Panchal smashed 76 in 54 balls, striking 10 fours and a lone six.

One dowm B H Merai (35 not out) and Chirag Gandhi (5 not out) took the side home in 18.1 overs, as they grabbed four points.

Sanandia picked up the two wickets to finish with figures of 2-25.

In the second match of the day, Baroda chased a stiff 178/6 put up by Maharashtra on the board with five wickets in hand.
For Maharashtra one down Ruturaj Gaikwad (52 off 36 balls) was the top scorer.

Also Vijay Zol (28), Rahul Tripathi (30) and a cameo by Ankit Bawne (23 off 9 balls) helped Maharashtara go past the 170-run mark as the oppostion bowlers were punished.

While Atit Sheth (3-21) was the pick of the bowlers, Rishi Arothe leaked 35 runs in three overs and Soaeb Tai conceded 34 runs in his three overs.

For Baroda, skipper Deepak Hooda (57 off 34 balls), Swapnil Singh (36 retired hurt) and Vishnu Solanki (42 not out off 21 balls) starred with the bat, as they helped their side romp home with 1.3 overs to spare.

Hooda laced four fours and two sixes while Solanki had two fours and three sixes to his credit against a hapless Maharashtra attack.

(With PTI inputs)