Karnataka knocked over Mumbai for its worst Twenty20 score in a Group B Super League match of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy here on Friday.
Karnataka’s fast bowlers proved to be too strong for Mumbai’s batsmen. Except for V. Koushik, the success story in the preliminary phase, the other three found victims in their opening bursts.
Then, Rohan Kadam scored a brisk unbeaten half-century to complete his side’s emphatic win.
After Mumbai elected to field, wily old hand R. Vinay Kumar began the procession, drawing Prithivi Shaw to touch a well-directed ball wide of slip where Mayank Agarwal converted a superb catch.
Mumbai’s other opener Siddhesh Lad faced a torrid over from the tall Prasidh Krishna. Krishna challenged the Mumbai top and middle-order bowling fast and straight outside the off-stump and got rid of Lad.
Manoj Bhandage — another debutant for Karnataka in the preliminaries — broke Mumbai’s back forcing a false shot from Shreyas Iyer and winning a leg before decision against Aditya Tare.
By the end of the eighth over Mumbai was in dire straits at 39 for five.
Making brilliant stops at point on the 30-yard circle, Jagadeesha Suchith impressed. And the left-arm spinner made his first over count, removing Suryakumar Yadav.
It was a near-perfect bowling and fielding effort by Karnataka; the superb effort by Vinay Kumar running sideways at extra cover to send back Dhawal Kulkarni off Koushik, depicting Karnataka’s outstanding team performance.
Earlier, Vidarbha began its campaign with a thumping nine-wicket win over defending champion Delhi.
Umesh Yadav got into the thick of action dismissing Unmukt Chand off the second ball of the match and thereafter his new-ball partner Shrikant Wagh caused major damage removing Dhruv Shorey and captain Nitish Rana.
Delhi did not recover from these blows and folded up for 82. Hiten Dalal dealt with the grim situation in a calm and assured manner to make a polished 42 with two 4s and three 6s.
Spinner Akshay Karnewar put on display his ambidextrous talent. He bowled left-arm spin to the right-handers and right-arm off-breaks to the left-handers and scalped Pawan Negi and Pranshu Vijayran.
Vidarbha openers Jitesh Sharma and Atharva Taide flayed the Delhi bowling in the PowerPlay overs and ensured a clear-cut win for their side.
The captains of both teams — Ishant Sharma and Faiz Fazal — did not take the field.
The scores:
Group A: Jharkhand 148 for seven in 18 overs (Anand Singh 45, Ishan Kishan 39) bt Gujarat 147 for eight in 18 overs (Karan Patel 35, Utkarsh Singh two for 22, Vikash Singh two for 25, Anukul Roy two for 25, Anand Singh two for 26). [Match reduced to 18 overs a side because of late start owing to dew].
Railways 142 for six in 20 overs (Prashant Gupta 39, Ashish Yadav 51, Sayan Ghosh two for 26) lost to Bengal 143 for four in 18.1 overs (Shreevats Goswami 80, Abhimanyu Easwaran 46, Ashish Yadav two for 20).
Group B: Delhi 83 in 16.2 overs (Hiten Dalal 42, Umesh Yadav two for 10, Shrikant Wagh two for 12, Yash Thakur two for 13, Akshay Karnewar two for 14) lost to Vidarbha 85 for one in 8.3 overs (Atharva Taide 32 n.o., Jitesh Sharma 41).
Mumbai 97 for nine in 20 overs lost to Karnataka 98 for one in 13.2 overs (Rohan Kadam 62 n.o.).