CHENNAI: Mumbai (Group A), Delhi (B), Karnataka (C), Himachal Pradesh (D) and Bengal (E) directly advanced to the quarterfinal phase of the ongoing Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. Six more teams Vidarbha (A), Punjab (B), Kerala (C), Saurashtra (D), Chhattisgarh (E) and Haryana (C) will advance to compete in three pre-quarterfinals. The three winners will then join the five quarterfinalists.
On Saturday, Karnataka confirmed their top spot with a five-wicket win over Haryana in Mohali. Chasing 126, they were never in any real danger, winning with 16 balls to spare, with Manish Pandey scoring an unbeaten 64 off 47 balls. Among the bowlers, K Gowtham impressed with figures of 3/17. Defending champions Tamil Nadu, meanwhile, didn’t advance as they finished third in E. They needed a few results to go their way but the permutations didn’t go in their favour.
In the Group B clash in Jaipur, Delhi finished off the league stages with a comfortable win against Tripura. Their skipper Nitish Rana continued his all-round performance with a three-wicket haul before smashing a quickfire 61 to take the team across the line. In the other match, Hyderabad trumped Manipur to register a 10-wicket victory. After bundling Manipur out for 117, thanks to E Sanketh’s three-fer, Buddhi Rahul came in as the impact player to smash an unbeaten 72 from 51 balls to take them home. Meanwhile, Pondicherry lost to Goa by six wickets.
In Indore, Andhra came close to beating Baroda while chasing 161 but fell short by 10 runs in the Group D match.
Select results: Group C: Meghalaya 100/8 in 20 ovs lost to Kerala 101/5 in 12.2 ovs (Sangma 3/19); Haryana 125/9 in 20 ovs (Gowtham 3/17) lost to Karnataka 129/5 in 20 ovs (Manish 64; Anshul 1/21); Group B: Tripura 134 in 19.4 ovslost to Delhi 139/4 in 17.1 ovs (Rana 61); Manipur 117 in 19.5 ovs (Sanketh 3/19) lost to Hyderabad 120/0 in 14.3 ovs (Buddhi 72 n.o); Pondicherry 88 18 ovs (Amit 4/12) lost to Goa 89/4 in 12.4 ovs; Group E: Chhattisgarh 167/7 in 20 ovs (Amandeep 57, Harpreet 47) bt Odisha 80 in 17.3 ovs. Group D: Baroda 161/6 in 20 ovs bt Andhra 150/6 in 20 ovs (Shinde 42 n.o).