Dominant Mumbai and Andhra storm into the Super League phase

Mumbai and Andhra made short work of paltry targets and waltzed into the Super League phase of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy at the Ekana Cricket Stadium here on Saturday.

Ayush Mhatre (69 n.o., 49b, 3×4, 5×6) put the finishing touches on Mumbai’s 122-run chase against Chhattisgarh with a pulled six over deep-midwicket in the 16th over, while captain Ricky Bhui’s consecutive fours sealed Andhra’s seven-wicket decimation of Kerala, with eight overs remaining.

But the groundwork was laid by the bowlers. Mumbai captain Shardul Thakur, who has lately revelled in bowling with the new ball, dented Chhattisgarh with three strikes inside the PowerPlay, yorking Amit Kumar Yadav and inducing a miscued pull from captain Amandeep Khare. By the end of the PowerPlay, Chhattisgarh had lost four, with Tushar Deshpande bouncing out Sanjeet Desai and Shardul trapping Mayank Verma in front with an inswinger.

Left-arm spinners Atharva Ankolekar and Shams Mulani put the rest of Chhattisgarh’s lineup through the wringer, combining to nab the next three batters.

From staring down the barrel at 59 for seven, Chhattisgarh crawled past the three-figure mark thanks to Shardul giving part-timer Siddhesh Lad a go with the ball.

K.S. Bharat’s half-century powered Andhra to a win over Kerala.
| Photo Credit:
SANDEEP SAXENA

Andhra didn’t give Kerala any such leeway at the adjacent Ekana Cricket Stadium B ground. The pace trio of K.V. Sasikanth, Satyanarayana Raju and Prithvi Raj Yarra didn’t offer Kerala’s top-order any width on a red-soil surface. Rohan Kunnummal was dismissed in the fourth over, and Sanju Samson wasn’t let off the hook either, with Kerala managing just 24 for one in the PowerPlay.

Kerala’s middle-order crumbled again under pressure, with five wickets falling for 32 runs. Samson waged a lone battle with a workmanlike 48-ball fifty and shifted gears in the penultimate over with two fours and a six off successive balls to give Kerala hope, but it was a false dawn.

Andhra openers K.S. Bharat and Ashwin Hebbar plundered 55 runs in the PowerPlay, confirming there were no demons in the pitch, and as the sun dipped, it cast a long shadow over Kerala’s mercurial campaign and its consistently misfiring batting unit.

The scores: Odisha 171/4 in 20 overs (Biplab Samantaray 43 n.o., Aarshirwad Swain 51 n.o.) beat Assam 98 in 16 overs (Sumit Ghadigaonkar 71, Biplab Samantaray 3/2). Toss: Assam.

Chhattisgarh 121 in 19.4 overs (Shardul Thakur 3/19) lost to Mumbai 123/2 in 15.5 overs (Ayush Mhatre 69 n.o., Ajinkya Rahane 40). Toss: Mumbai.

Kerala 119/7 in 20 overs (Sanju Samson 73 n.o.) lost to Andhra 123/3 in 12 overs (KS Bharat 53). Toss: Andhra.

Vidarbha 172/5 in 20 overs (Adhyayan Daga 55, Dhruv Shorey 68 n.o.) lost to Railways 176/5 in 19.1 overs (Ashutosh Sharma 32, Ravi Singh 68 n.o.). Toss: Railways.