Jharkhand pip Gujarat in last-ball finish; Delhi shot out for 83

Jharkhand snatched victory from Gujarat in a last-ball finish in the opening game of the Super League phase of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy in Indore.

Needing six off the final two deliveries bowled by Vikash Singh, Chirag Gandhi dispatched the first for four to leave Gujarat needing two off the last delivery. However, Gandhi failed to connect as Gujarat faltered in heart-breaking fashion.

Put in to bat in a truncated 18-overs-a-side contest because of a damp pitch, Jharkhand overcame a middle-order collapse to post 148 for 7. Ishan Kishan, the captain and wicketkeeper, put together 82 in just 7.2 overs with Anand Singh, who made 45, for the opening stand before they lost five wickets for just 37 runs off the next 41 balls. It needed an unbeaten 20-ball 22 from Kumar Deobrat to provide a late lift.

Gujarat slumped to 9 for 2 in the second over, but found an enforcer in Karan Patel, who made a 26-ball 35, and Axar Patel, with 28 courtesy three fours and a six, kept them on track before a breakdown that eventually proved costly. Anand also chipped in with the ball, taking 2 for 26 to walk away with the Man-of-the-Match award.

Mumbai's batting line-up collapsed against the Karnataka quicks, who combined to take six wickets and restrict Mumbai to 97 for 9 in 20 overs. Led by Rohan Kadam's unbeaten 62 off 45, Karnataka chased the total down easily in only 13.2 overs for the loss of one wicket.

Mumbai's innings was given an early jolt when Prithvi Shaw was dismissed for a duck by Vinay Kumar on the second ball of the match. Only one batsman - Akash Parkar - crossed 20 for them as Siddhesh Lad (13), Suryakumar Yadav (14) and Shreyas Iyer (10) fell cheaply to leave Mumbai on 39 for 5 after eight overs. Parkar's boundary-less 22 off 32 later carried them towards 100 as Mumbai kept losing wickets regularly. Vinay Kumar finished with 2 for 15 from three overs.

Karnataka saw a solid opening stand of 79 in under 12 overs between Kadam and BR Sharath, who was dismissed for 25 by Lad. Kadam and Mayank Agarwal then finished the chase with 40 balls to spare.

A batting implosion led not just to a massive loss, but also a huge dent to Delhi's net run rate, as Vidarbha bowled them out for 83 and then romped home by nine wickets in just 8.3 overs. Opener Jitesh Sharma scored nearly half the runs for Vidarbha, with a 24-ball 41.

Having elected to bowl, Vidarbha picked up wickets in a rush. The fast-bowling trio of Umesh Yadav, Yash Thakur and Shrikant Wagh got two wickets apiece. Barring opener Hiten Dalal, who made 42 to lift Delhi from 20 for 5 with Pawan Negi, all the other top-six batsmen were dismissed for single-digit scores, captain Unmukt Chand and Himmat Singh getting out for ducks.

Bengal needed Shreevats Goswami to slam a 55-ball 80 with nine fours and two sixes to take them over the line in a middling chase against Railways, while Wriddhiman Saha, who had hit a century against Arunachal Pradesh and 52 against Odisha, fell for a three-ball duck.

Batting first, Railways put up 142 for 6, with Ashish Yadav leading the innings with a 44-ball 51.

Though Saha fell in the first over, Bengal got to a strong position through Goswami and Abhimanyu Easwaran, who took them past 100 before the latter fell for 46 in the 13th over with the team on 104. Though Manoj Tiwary, the captain, was dismissed soon after for 4, Goswami carried on to take Bengal to within a shot of victory before being caught behind, and they went past the target with 11 balls left. Ashish completed his all-round effort by picking up the first two Bengal wickets as well to finish with 2 for 20 from his four overs.