CHENNAI: Teamwork by the bowlers and Washington Sundar’s late cameo along with Baba Indrajith’s vital contribution with the bat took Tamil Nadu to a six-wicket win against Bihar in a Group B match of the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 tournament in Surat on Sunday. It was Tamil Nadu’s first win after defeat against Rajasthan in their opening match.
Electing to bat, Bihar found the going tough against Tamil Nadu’s pace and spin. Barring a fourth-wicket stand of 54 in 6.1 overs between MD Rahmutullah (32 off 18) and Keshav Kumar (21 off 13), there was no real threat to the bowlers. M Mohammed (3/21) and captain R Ashwin (3/31) were the only two to take wickets, but most of the other bowlers returned economical figures which restricted Bihar to 131 for nine.
After the loss of opener C Hari Nishanth in the third over, NS Chaturved (25 off 23) steadied the innings in the company of Indrajith (46 off 47).
But following his departure and that of Ashwin, who went in at No 4, Tamil Nadu were in a spot of bother at 69 for three after 11 overs. Washington, whose four overs cost just 22, weighed in with an unbeaten 38 off 28 balls, which contained four fours and the only six of the innings. His partnership of 50 off 6.2 overs with Indrajith took Tamil Nadu to the doorstep of victory.
Iyer, Kishan set stage ablaze
Shreyas Iyer is on fire. So is Ishan Kishan. The two posted their second centuries in the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20s on Sunday to lead Mumbai and Jharkhand to easy wins against Madhya Pradesh and Manipur, respectively. With 296 runs in three innings and a strike rate of 197.33, Iyer is leading the scoring charts. He has hit 29 sixes so far. Left-hander Kishan is second with a tally of 213 compiled at 171.77 runs per 100 balls. After a duck in the first match, he has slammed two successive centuries. And surprise oh surprise, Cheteshwar Pujara is third on the table with 210 runs. With a century and a half-century, he has a strike rate of 135.48. He heads the list for most fours with 31 hits to the fence so far.
Brief scores
Group A: In Mulapadu: Kerala 160/6 in 20 ovs (Vinod 70, Sachin 38) bt Andhra 152 in 19.4 ovs (Prashanth 57; Warrier 3/27).
Group B: In Surat: Bihar 131/9 in 20 ovs (Mohammed 3/21, Ashwin 3/31) lost to Tamil Nadu 132/4 in 18.5 ovs (Indrajith 46, Washington 38 n.o).
Group D: In Cuttack: Karnataka 226/4 in 20 vs (Pandey 111 n.o, Sharath 43) bt Arunachal Pradhesh 80 in 14.4 ovs (Seth 49; Gopal 5/11). Mizoram 91 in 19.1 ovs (Taruwar 37; Roy 3/18) lost to Odisha 95/1 in 12.5 ovs (Pattanaik 54 n.o, Dhuper 38 n.o).
Group E: In New Delhi: Uttarakhand 141/6 in 20 ovs bt Puducherry 131/9 in 20 ovs (Dogra 53). Hyderabad 131/7 in 20 ovs (Akshath 46, Sandeep 39; Arothe 4/18) lost to Baroda 134/6 in 19.4 ovs (Solanki 40, Swapnil 36 n.o, Hooda 35).