BENGALURU: It is the end of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy group stages, and five teams from Elite Group A to E — Tamil Nadu, Bengal, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Hyderabad — have booked their quarterfinals berth. Meanwhile, second-placed teams from these groups, including Maharashtra, Karnataka, Himachal, Kerala and Saurashtra have made it to the pre-quarters alongside plate toppers Vidarbha.
In Elite Group B, Karnataka, who had come into their match against Bengal with four straight wins, lost their first match of the competition by seven runs, pushing them down to the second place. Manish Pandey’s side suffered a poor start as they were placed at 11/2 with Mayank Agarwal and Devdutt Padikkal back in the dugout. But, Pandey (32) and Karun Nair (44) steadied the ship and helped the team end up with 134/8. That total was enough with Abhimanyu Easwaran hitting an unbeaten half-century to help his team reach the target. Karnataka will meet Saurashtra for a spot in the last eight.
For Tamil Nadu, the big names stood up. Chasing 146 for victory, things looked a bit dicey for TN at 31/2, but a brilliant third-wicket partnership of 105 runs between opener N Jagadeesan (67) and skipper Vijay Shankar (59 n.o) ensured they emerged victorious.
Kerala delivered when it mattered the most, beating Madhya Pradesh by eight wickets to finish second in Elite Group C. After Parth Sahani-led side scored an impressive 171/5 with the help of Rajat Patidar’s 49-ball 77. Kerala’s Sachin Baby (51*) and Sanju Samson (56*) smashed a fifty each to help the team to seal the contest.
Amongst the elite teams, Hyderabad have proved to be one of the best teams, with five wins out of five after their 29-run win over Uttar Pradesh.
Brief scores
Group A: Punjab 145/6 in 20 ovs (Gurkeerat 43 n.o, Warrier 2/20) lost to Tamil Nadu 148/3 in 17.1 ovs (Jagadeesan 67, Vijay 59 n.o), Odisha 132/7 in 20 ovs (Bhati 4/27, Sharma 2/19) lost to Pondicherry 136/4 in 19 ovs (Dogra 54 n.o, R Ragupathy 39).
Group B: Karnataka 134/8 in 20 ovs (Nair 44, Kumar 3/33, Pramanik 2/33) lost to Bengal 138/3 in 18 ovs (Easwaran 51 n.o, Ahmed 34 n.o),
Group C: Himachal 148/7 in 20 ovs (Dhawan 57, Chopra 35, C Stephen 4/11) bt Andhra 118 (Hebbar 43, Jaiswal 5/18, Dhawan 3/16).
Group D: Madhya Pradesh 171/5 in 20 ovs (Patidar 77, Akhil 2/35) lost to Kerala 172/2 in 18 ovs (Baby 51 n.o, Samson 56 n.o) .
Group E: Hyderabad 147/7 in 20 ovs (Agarwal 62, Yash 2/20) bt Uttar Pradesh 118 (Nath 36; Milind 5/8), Saurashtra 166/6 in 20 ovs (Jackson 79 n.o, Jani 42, Vashisht 2/42) bt Delhi 153/5 in 20 ovs (Shorey 33, Patel 2/35).