Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 Day 1: Good news for CSK, Suresh Raina shows form with half-century but UP lost to Punjab

January 10, 2021

Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 Day 1 – IPL players Suresh Raina & Bhuvneshwar Kumar shines: Suresh Raina pulled out of CSK and IPL 2020 for personal reasons and his team is in two minds whether to continue with Southpaw or not? But Raina gave good account of himself in the first match of Syed Mushtaq Ali T20. Raina hit a gritty fifty for Uttar Pradesh in their Elite Group A opener against Punjab at Alur in Karnataka. Raina hit 56 form 50 balls but Uttar Pradesh lost the encounter by 11 runs after a late collapse in chase of 135.

As many as 10 matches are played on the opening day of Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy — the first domestic cricket competition in India following the enforced break due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who was playing his first competitive outing after suffering an injury in Indian Premier League 2020, also impressed for Uttar Pradesh with figures of 3/22. On a difficult batting wicket, Raina remained unbeaten on 56 but with the likes of captain Priyam Garg, Rinku Singh and Karn Sharma failing to get going, Uttar Pradesh fell short of the target. Prabhsimran Singh and Anomlpreet Singh helped Punjab to 134 with 43 and 35, respectively.

Dinesh Karthik leads Tamil Nadu to a big win over Jharkhand

C Hari Nishanth struck an unbeaten 92 while Dinesh Karthik smashed 46 off 17 in Tamil Nadu’s massive 66-run win over Jharkhand. Ishan Kishan chose to field and then saw the Tamil Nadu’s openers score 72 for the first wicket in 9.5 overs. There were two quick strikes but Nishanth and Karthik collaborated to quickly take the game away from Jharkhand. The pair smashed 98 in the next 7.4 overs to set Kishan’s men a target of 190.

Jharkhand’s innings never really got going with the top score of 28 coming from No. 7 batsman Anand Singh. Sonu Yadav picked up three wickets to cap off an easy win. TN did suffer a blow on the day, however, when all-rounder Vijay Shankar pulled up in his run-up early into his third over. He limped off the field with Hari Nishanth finishing his over.

Delhi Capitals Axar Patel shines for Gujarat in win over Maharashtra

Captain Axar Patel led Gujarat to a comfortable win over Maharashtra in an Elite Group C tie in Vadodara. Axar top scored with 30 to help Gujarat post 157. Chennai Super Kings opener Ruturaj Gaikwad got a start for Maharashtra, hitting 26 in 19 balls. However, it was not enough as Maharashtra were restricted to 128-all out.

Defending champions Karnataka begin with a win

Meanwhile, Sunrisers Hyderabad star Abdul Samad’s gritty 30 went in vain as Jammu and Kashmir lost their Elite Group A opener in Alur against defending champions Karnataka. Devdutt Padikkal failed to get going but KL Shrijit’s 31-ball 48 helped Karnataka post 150.

A well-oiled bowling unit stepped up for Karnataka with Prasidh Krishna, Abhimanyu Mithun, Krishnappa Gowtham and Jagadeesha Suchith sharing 9 wickets between them to bowl out Jammu and Kashmir for 107.

Krunal Pandya shines with all-round effort

Baroda registered a win in a close contest against Uttarakhand in their Elite Group C opener after captain Krunal Pandya hit a 42-ball 76 and picked up 2 wickets. Uttarakhand were restricted to 163 in chase of 169 in Vadodara.