Bengal, Karnataka register easy wins

CUTTACK: Bengal put up an allround show to prevail over Chhattisgarh by 26 runs and register their second successive win, that kept alive their Super League hopes in Group D of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Twenty20 tournament here Thursday. Abhimanyu Easwaran top-scored with a 41-ball 59 while skipper Manoj Tiwary struck 42 off 27 balls, studded with three sixes to help Bengal post a stiff 188 for four after being put in to bat.

Wriddhiman Saha failed to make it big, getting out for 26 but after his departure Tiwary along with his deputy Abhimanyu put on 86 runs in quick time to take Bengal ahead. Later, Vivek Singh (30 not out from 18 balls) and Ritwik Roy Chowdhury (13 not out) propped up Bengal’s total.

Karnataka remained firmly at the top of the table with 24 points after their sixth win on the trot when they hammered hosts Odisha by 51 runs. Opener Rohan Kadam cracked his third halfcentury of the tournament in a 59-ball 89 to take Karnataka to a challenging 155 for nine after being sent in. In reply, Odisha failed to get going to be bundled out for 104 in 18.1 overs with legspinner KC Cariappa (4/15) and medium pacer V Koushik (3/8) inflicting bulk of the damage. Brief scores:

Nagaland 103/8 in 20 ovrs (R Jhanjariya 49*, M Nideesh 3/17) lost to Kerala 104/0 in 12.2 overs (V Vinod 53*, R Konnummal 51*).

Points: Kerala: 4, Nagaland: 0. Manipur 182/6 in 20 ovrs (M Raghav 103, Yashpal 51, R Salam 3/38) lost to J&K 184/2 in 17.1 ovrs (J Wadhwan 59, Bandeep 59*, S Khajuria 34).

Points: J&K: 4, Manipur: 0.

Andhra 179 all out in 19.5 overs (M Pranith 43, R Bhui 38, K Sharma 30, S Nadeem 3/26, V Aaron 3/49) bt Jharkhand 176 all out in 19.5 overs (S Tiwary 54, YP Raj 3/28).

Points: Andhra: 4, Jharkhand: 0. Assam 80/9 in 15 overs (S Kumar 4/20) lost to Haryana 81/3 in 8.4 overs (Y Sharma 26).

Points: Haryana 4, Assam 0. Karnataka 155/9 in 20 overs (R Kadam 89; B Samantray 2/10) bt Odisha 104 in 18.1 overs (S Pradhan 32; KC Cariappa 4/15, V Koushik 3/8, J Suchith 2/27). Points: Karnataka 4, Odisha 0. Bengal 188/4 in 20 overs (A Easwaran 59, M Tiwary 42, Vivek 30*; Shivendra 2/28) bt Chhattisgarh 162/9 in 20 overs (Harpreet 54, A Khare 30; S Ghosh 4/32). Points: Bengal 4, Chhattisgarh 0. Mizoram 122/8 in 20 overs (T Kohli 52; A Sahani 4/35) lost to Arunachal Pradesh 125/2 in 11.4 overs (S Seth 66*).

Points: Arunachal 4, Mizoram 0.