File image of Dhruv Jurel
Ajinkya Rahane slammed his third half-century in four matches but that was not enough as Mumbai lost to Chattisgarh by one run in a dramatic finish to their Elite Group B Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 clash here on Monday.
This was Mumbai's second loss in four matches as they slipped to third place behind Bengal who returned to winning ways with a facile nine-wicket win over Services to brighten their qualification prospects.
Karnataka (16) consolidated their position atop the Group B standings with four victories on the trot, going four points clear of Bengal with a seven-wicket win over Baroda.
Karnataka will play Bengal, while Mumbai face a must-win task against Baroda in the final group league matches here on Tuesday.
At the Nehru Stadium, Mumbai, in their pursuit of a fighting 157, were reduced to 22/2 in 4.2 overs but the Indian Test vice-captain once again led from the front, hitting two sixes and six fours in his 55-ball 69.
But Rahane fell victim to unheralded Sourabh Majumdar in the first ball of the final over as the 22-year-old seamer defended eight runs to seal a dramatic win.
The Mumbai skipper had the hard-hitting Aditya Tare at the other end but the 34-year-old IPL veteran failed to get a single boundary off the final five balls.
For Mumbai, the poor form of their star player Prithvi Shaw once again hurt them badly as he got out for a duck after being cleaned up by Sumit Raikar in the first over.
Only once, against the Services, the Mumbai opener has got to double digits (14) and in the remaining three matches he has scores of 4, 6 and 0.
The talented Yashasvi Jaiswal (4) too failed to get going and became their second wicket inside the power play and it was once again left for the duo of Rahane and Siddhesh Lad (46) to rebuild the innings.
Shashank Singh was the star for Chattisgarh, hitting a blistering 28-ball 57 (4x6, 4x4) to power them to 157/5 after Amandeep Khare opted to bat.
Chhattisgarh got off to a jittery start to be 6/2 inside two overs but Akhil Herwadkar anchored the innings with a 56-ball 53 in an entertaining 80-run partnership with Singh.
Brief scores:
Chhattisgarh 157/5; 20 overs (Shashank Singh 57, Akhil Herwadkar 53) b Mumbai 156/5; 20 overs (Ajinkya Rahane 69, Siddhesh Lad 46; Sumit Ruikar 2/24, Ravi Kiran 2/32) by one run.
Services 90/8; 20 overs (Devender Lochab 34 not out; Pradipta Pramanik 2/16) lost to Bengal 91/1; 10.5 overs (Sudip Chatterjee 50, Abhimanyu Easwaran 32 not out) by nine wickets.
Baroda 134/7; 20 overs (Bhanu Punia 36; Vijaykumar Vyashak 2/34, Krishnappa Gowtham 2/17) lost to Karnataka 137/3; 20 overs (Devdutt Padikkal 56, Karun Nair 36 not out; Ninad Rathva 2/15) by seven wickets.
Other match reports:
All-round Venkatesh, pacey Avesh steal show again as MP demolish Bihar by 9 wickets
Avesh Khan terrorised with his pace and bounce while Bihar found Vekatesh Iyer's all-round talent too hot to handle as Madhya Pradesh cantered to a nine-wicket victory in a group D game of the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 tournament here on Monday.
Avesh (3-0-6-3) and Venkatesh (4-2-2-2) first dismantled Bihar for 59 in 18 overs and the left-handed opener then smashed seven boundaries in his 20-ball-36 to race to the target in 5.
4 overs.
With squad for New Zealand T20 series set to be named anytime, it will be very difficult to ignore Venkatesh and Avesh's consistent performances right from IPL to four matches into the National T20 Championship.
Venkatesh is being looked as a potential all-round replacement of Hardik Pandya, whose dubious fitness record and inability to carry out bowling duties has brought the MP man into contention.
The only difference is Venkatesh bats at the top of the order and one doesn't know how good he is in the post power-play overs if used as an option in the middle-order.
In another game in the group, Kerala beat Assam by eight wickets on a slow surface where the losing team could manage only 121/8 with Basil Thampi taking 3/12 in four overs.
Veteran Jalaj Saxena took 2/12.
However, Kerala found it difficult to chase down an easy target and only crossed the finishing line in 18 overs.
Opener Rohan Kunnummal scocred unbeaten 56 off 53 balls.
In the third match of the group, Gujarat thumped Railways by eight wickets reaching a target of 133 in just 12 overs.
Right-handed batter Urvil Patel remained unbeaten on 59 off 29 balls with eight fours and three sixes.
Brief Scores:
Railways 132/9 (Upendra Yadav 41, Arzan Nagwaswella 2/24, Roosh Kalaria 2/22) lost to Gujarat 133/2 in 12 overs (Urvil Patel 59 not out off 29 balls, Ripal Patel 19 no off 6 balls).
Gujarat 4: Railways 0.
Bihar 59 in 18 overs (Avesh Khan 3/6, Venkatesh Iyer 2/2) lost to Madhya Pradesh 60/1 in 5.
4 overs(Venkatesh Iyer 36 not out off 20 balls).
MP 4: Bihar 0
Assam 121/8 (Riyan Parag 24 off 24 balls, Basil Thampi 3/12) lost to Kerala 122/2 in 18 overs (Rohan K 56 not out off 53 balls, Sanju Samson 14).
Kerala 4: Assam 0.
Hyderabad humble Delhi by 3 wickets, UP win against Uttarakhand
Skipper Tanmay Agarwal led from the front with a 34-ball 54 as Hyderabad upstaged Delhi by three wickets in a thrilling last-ball finish to their Elite Group E match of the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 championship here on Monday.
Opting to field first after winning the toss, Hyderabad's bowlers restricted Delhi to 171 for five in their allotted 20 overs.
Chasing a challenging target of 172, Hyderabad completed the task in the last ball of the game, despite India player Hanuma Vihari's failure at the top of the order.
During his stay in the middle, the 26-year Agarwal struck six boundaries and two sixes while stitching 64 runs for the second wicket with Tilak Varma, who contributed 37 off 32 balls.
With his off-spin bowling, Lalit Yadav had Agarwal trapped in front of wicket in the 11th over with Hyderabad requiring another 86 run for victory in 55 balls.
Varma was the third batter to get out with the team total reading 113 for three in the 14th over.
Hyderabad lost another wicket soon enough as Delhi looked to come back into the game.
Rahul Buddhi played a useful knock of 17 in 12 balls, but had it not been for Tanay Thyagarajan's 10-ball 17 and Chama Milind's 14 in eight deliveries, Hyderabad would not have won the match.
The two batters added 33 runs for an unbroken eighth-wicket stand, hitting a few sixes and a four when their team needed them the most.
Left-arm seamer Pradeep Sangwan finished with impressive figures of 3/27 in his full quota of four overs, while off-break bowler Shivank Vashisht got two wickets in one over.
Opening the innings, wicketkeeper Anuj Rawat top-scored for Delhi with 33-ball 41.
Nitish Rana made 34 in 27 balls while Lalit Yadav remained unbeaten on 19 off just six balls.
In the day's other group match, Uttar Pradesh beat Uttarakhand by seven wickets and 15 balls to spare.
In another game, Saurashtra defeated Chandigarh by a handsome margin of 42 runs.
Batting first, Saurashtra put up a formidable 209/4 with Arpit Vasavada and Sheldon Jackson making 72 and 70 respectively.
Brief scores:
Delhi 170/5 in 20 overs (Anuj Rawat 41; Chama Milind 2/49) lost to Hyderabad 171/7 in 20 overs (Tanmay Agarwal 54; Pradeep Sangwan 3/27) by three wickets.
Uttarakhand 124/7 in 20 overs (Jay Bista 37; Shivam Mavi 2/22) lost to Uttar Pradesh 125/3 in 17.
3 overs (Karan Sharma 52 not out, Rinku Singh 44 not out) by seven wickets.
Saurashtra 209/4 in 20 overs (Arpit Vasavada 72, Sheldon Jackson 70) beat Chandigarh 167/6 in 20 overs (Arjit Pannu 44, Gaurav Puri 35; Chetan Sakariya 3/25) by 42 runs.
