KOCHI: Kerala started their campaign in the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 Tournament with a bang as the hosts riding on a brilliant half-century (59 no) from P Rohan Prem floored Jammu and Kashmir in the Group B match.
Winning the toss and chosing to field, Kerala bowlers kept the J&K batsmen in tight leash. Lanky medium-pacer Sandeep Warrier inflicted first damage when Adil Reshi nicked him to Mohammed Azharudeen behind the stumps. One wicket down with just a run on the board, Bandeep Singh and Ahmed Bandy steadied the ship and stitched a 60-run partnership before Bandy was caught by Rohan off Raiphy Vincent Gomez in the deep cover.
In reply, Kerala had a terrible start with Jagadeesh edging Mohammed Mudhasir to wicketkeeper Bandeep in the very first ball. With Rohan Prem joining Mohammed Azharudheen in the middle, Kerala innings got a life. Rohan was brilliant on the square of the off-side and straight down the wicket. After starting with two boundaries of Rohit Sharma, Rohan kept the scoreboard ticking, with singles and occasional boundaries.
TN Thrash Haryana
Nagpur: Pacer Antony Dhas and leg-spinner M Ashwin shared seven wickets between them as Tamil Nadu thrashed Haryana by nine wickets in their opening group A match. The seasoned Virender Sehwag came a cropper, dismissed after adding just 3 runs. Later, Anirudha Srikkanth (54 not out) and Baba Aparajith (49 not out) ensured that TN chased down the paltry target.
Quick Wrap
Group A: Bengal 185/4 in 20 ovs (W Saha 81, S Mondal 50, C Milind 2/45) beat Hyderabad 124 in 16.2 ovs (Akshath 32, M Shami 3/18).
Gujarat 151/6 in 20 ovs (R Bhatt 40, A Chauhan 2/32) lost to Himachal Pradesh 152/5 in 19.3 ovs (P Chopra 89 n.o, R Kalaria 2/21).
Haryana 113 in 19.1 ovs (N Saini 50, W Antony Dhas 4/10, M Ashwin 3/28) lost to Tamil Nadu 116/1 in 16 ovs ( S Anirudha 54 n.o, B Aparajith 49 n.o).
Group B: Jammu & Kashmir 126/6 in 20 ovs (Bandeep 37, R Gomez 2/19) lost to Kerala 129/5 in 18.4 ovs (PR Prem 59).
Saurashtra 144/6 in 20 ovs (C Pujara 67, S Majumder 2/22) beat Tripura 78 in 17.3 ovs (D Punia 3/19, S Sanandia 2/21).
Punjab 130/6 in 20 ovs (Mandeep 76 n.o, R Bhatia 2/16) lost to Rajasthan 133/6 in 19.4 ovs (R Bishnoi 58, Yuvraj 2/16).
Group C: Andhra 95/9 in 20 ovs ( S Srinivas 22, I Pandey 4/20) lost to Madhya Pradesh 96/5 in 18.2 ovs (Harpreet 40 n.0, B Ayyappa 2-18).
Baroda 165/8 in 20 ovs (K Devdhar 48, D Hooda 48 n.o, A Nechim 2/35) beat Assam 116/9 in 20 ovs (J Syed Mohammad 42, I Pathan 5/13).
Railways 210/2 in 20 ovs (Asad Pathan 81, S Wakaskar 118) lost to Delhi 214/6 in 19.2 ovs (A Kaushik 53, N Rana 34, K Upadhyay 2/36).
Group D: Maharashtra 109/7 in 12 ovs (K Jadhav 52; P Chawla 4/28) lost to Uttar Pradesh 113/3 in 11.2 ovs (P Gupta 35; SM Kazi 1/18).
Odisha 91 in 17.4 ovs (A Yadav 33; S Thakur 2/11) lost to Mumbai 95/4 in 15.5 ovs (A Tare 32; DR Behera 2/14).
Karnataka 121/9 in 20 ovs (Vinay 38; R Raj 3/19, D Rai 2/21) lost to Services 122/7 in 19 ovs (A Gupta 27, Yashpal 25; KC Kariappa 2/20).