CHENNAI: A day after his inclusion in the T20I squad for the New Zealand tour, Shubman Gill celebrated with a swashbuckling century for Punjab, helping them beat Karnataka in the Syed Mushtaq Ali quarterfinal in Kolkata on Tuesday.
Punjab posted a huge 225/4, thanks to Gill’s 55-ball 126. In reply, the Mayank Agarwal-led side came close to chasing the target before falling short by nine runs. After losing some early wickets, ex-skipper Manish Pandey (45) and Abhinav Manohar (62 n.o) kept Karnataka in the game, but it wasn’t enough in the end.
Meanwhile, Himachal Pradesh held their nerve in a last-ball thriller against Bengal to secure a four-wicket victory. Shahbaz Ahmed’s 59 powered Bengal to 199/6 before AP Vashisht (76 n.o) and NR Gangta (50) took HP home.
In the other two quarterfinals, Vidarbha edged past Delhi by the barest of margins and Mumbai trumped Saurashtra comfortably to progress to the semifinals. YR Thakur’s four-fer helped Vidarbha defend a par total of 157/5. Delhi gave a fight but fell short by one run in the end. On the other hand, Shreyas Iyer (40) and Shivam Dube (25 n.o) guided Mumbai home with the bat against Saurashtra.
Brief scores: Vidarbha 157/5 in 20 ovs (Wadkar 63; Mayank 1/16) bt Delhi 156/6 in 20 ovs (Dhull 39; Thakur 4/29); Punjab 225/4 in 20 ovs (Gill 126, Anmol_preet 59; Vidwath 3/44) bt Karnataka 216/6 in 20 ovs (Abhinav 62 n.o, Manish 45; Ramandeep 2/26); Bengal 199/6 in 20 ovs (Shahbaz 59, Ritwik 32 n.o) lost to HP 200/6 in 20 ovs (Vashisht 76 n.o, Gangta 50); Saurashtra 166/8 in 20 ovs (Prerak 61; Tushar 3/37) lost to Mumbai 168/8 in 19.3 ovs (Shreyas 40; Sakariya 4/33 ).