Mumbai seal quarters berth after nervy win

RAJKOT: Mumbai sealed a direct spot in the quarter-finals of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy after pulling off a tense two-run win against Uttarakhand at the Saurashtra Cricket Stadium here on Saturday.

Apart from Mumbai, Punjab, Karnataka, Himachal Pradesh and Bengal finished as toppers in their respective groups to directly qualify for the last-eight stage of the T20 tournament.

Mumbai finished with 24 points to sit top of Group A while Vidarbha finished second and will have to play the prequarterfinals.

Uttarakhand opener Avneesh Sudha’s 66-ball 96 went in vain as Mumbai bowlers held their nerves to eke out the victory.

For Mumbai, Yashasvi Jaiswal slammed 45 (27b, 5x4, 1x6) to lead them to a competitive 174 for five. Captain Ajinkya Rahane chipped in with a 28-ball 34 that comprised three fours and a six before he too was dismissed.

Shreyas Iyer, walking in at No. 4, scored 15 off 12 balls. Critical cameos from southpaw Shivam Dube (28* off 19) and Sarfaraz Khan (26 off 16) lifted Mumbai’s total.

In reply, Uttarakhand managed 172 for nine riding on a brilliant 66-ball 96, including 11 fours and four sixes, by opener Sudha but he found little support from the other end. Shams Mulani (2/26) and Mohit Avasthi

(2/45) returned with two wickets apiece.

Gill hits fifty

In a Group B match at Jaipur, Indian opener Shubman Gill slammed an unbeaten 57 in 44 balls while Prabhsimran Singh remained unbeaten on 80 (49b) as Punjab chased down Uttar Pradesh’s 148 with nine wickets in hand in 15.1 overs.

The big win helped Punjab edge out Delhi on net run-rate for the top spot as the latter will have to play the pre-quarters.

At Mohali, medium pacer Auqib Nabi became the first Jammu and Kashmir bowler to take a hat-trick in Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy as he picked the wickets of Ravi Chauhan, Anshul Gupta and Rahul Singh in successive deliveries en route to a fine 3/21 against Services.

Services chased down the target of 150 with three wickets and four balls to spare.

174/5 in 20 overs (Y Jaiswal 45, A Rahane 34; H Bisht 3/37) beat

172/9 in 20 overs (A Sudha 96; S Mulani 2/26, M Avasthi 2/45) by 2 runs

Yashasvi Jaiswal