Raina shines as UP keep final hopes alive
KOLKATA: Uttar Pradesh beat Baroda to stay in the hunt for a final berth along with Delhi in Group B, while Rajasthan won three out of three to fix a date with Punjab in another virtual semi-final of the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 cricket tournament here on Wednesday.
In an inconsequential match under floodlights at the Eden Gardens, talented India batsman Karun Nair struck a superlative 52-ball 100, which glittered with eight fours and seven sixes. Riding his knock, Karnataka posted 201/4 beating a hapless Jharkhand by 123 runs.
The winners of UP versus Delhi at the Jadavpur University and Rajasthan versus Punjab at the Eden Gardens on Thursday will play the final on Friday.
Suresh Raina continued his purple patch with the bat as UP braved a big total to win by seven wickets at the Jadavpur University campus ground in the first match of the day.
Raina, coming off scores of 61 and 126 not out in his two previous innings, hit a patient 47-ball 56, studded with five fours and two sixes.
Put in to bat, Baroda posted a commanding 192/3, riding on opener Urvil Patel’s 96, laced with 12 fours and four sixes. Deepak Hooda also smashed a 25-ball 45 (3x4, 3x6) as Mohsin Khan returned figures of 2/38 for UP.
In reply, opener Umang Sharma scripted a career-best 95 with Raina extending his golden run to a third successive day. UP won the tie with eight deliveries to spare posting 195/3.
In the other match at the same venue, Tamil Nadu, after electing to bat, were restricted to 129/9, with Bengal bowlers Kanishk Seth (3/26), Sayan Ghosh (2/19) and Aamir Gani (2/16) sharing seven wickets. S Anirudha was the highest scorer for TN with 37.
Bengal rode Sudip Chatterjee’s second consecutive fifty (51 not out) to ease to the target with Writtick Chatterjee (44) also batting well.
At Eden Gardens, Rajasthan’s Mahipal Lomror’s 55-ball 74 and seamer Deepak Chahar’s threewicket haul set up their team’s 17-run win over Mumbai.
Electing to bat, Rajasthan finished with 175/6, riding 18-yearold Lomror’s 74 which was laced with four fours and the same number of sixes. What changed the match in their favour though was Tajinder Singh’s quickfire 17-ball 43. In reply, Mumbai could only manage 158/8.
BRIEF SCORES
192/3; 20 overs (U Patel 96, D Hooda 45) lost to
195/3; 18.4 overs (U Sharma 95, S Raina 56) by seven wkts.
129/9; 20 overs (A Srikkanth 37, K Seth 3/26, S Ghosh 2/19, A Gani 2/16) lost to
134/3; 16.2 overs (S Chatterjee 51 not out, W Chatterjee 44) by seven wkts.
175/6 (M Lomror 74, T Singh 43; D Kulkarni 3/35) bt
158/8 (A Herwadkar 68, S Yadav 39; D Chahar 3/27, Tajinder 2/21) by 17 runs.
201/4 in 20 overs (K Nair 100, P Deshpande 56; M Kumar 2/31, V Singh 1/40) bt
78 in 14.2 overs (V Singh 25, I Kishan 18; S Aravind 2/6, P Krishna 2/8, J Suchith 2/13, A Mithun 2/23) by 123 runs.