Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2018 - Day 5 Round Up

Baroda, Tamil Nadu, and Mumbai registered wins in their respective games, but the whole concentration was in Vishakapatnam, where Hyderabad and Karnataka locked horns.

Published - 11 Jan 2018, 17:33 IST | Updated - 11 Jan 2018, 17:33 IST

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It was a day of contrasting emotions in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Zonal T20 League on Thursday as a controversy stole the entire limelight. There were some close games as well, like the one between Andhra and Kerala. Baroda, Tamil Nadu, and Mumbai registered wins in their respective games, but the whole concentration was in Vishakapatnam, where Hyderabad and Karnataka locked horns.

Krishnappa Gowtham and Karun Nair’s sensational half-centuries propelled Karnataka to a total of 203 runs on the board batting first. But hold on! Karnataka’s skipper Vinay Kumar argued with the umpires that Hyderabad player Mehedi Hasan stepped on the boundary rope whilst fielding. Only two runs were given eventually and when Vinay Kumar kept arguing during the mid-innings.

The umpires consented to give those two runs, so Karnataka scored 205, not 203. Akshath Reddy’s mind-boggling 70 off 29 balls gave them a stellar start, but eventually, they could only score 203 runs. They fell 2 runs short of the target, the exact number of runs that were added during the mid-innings.

Hyderabad captain Ambati Rayudu and Vinay Kumar were engaged in a heated battle later on. Whilst the frustration from Ambati Rayudu was understandable, this entire scenario led to the delay of the next match which was to be played at the same venue.

Andhra and Tamil Nadu win big in South Zone

Andhra and Kerala’s game was cut-short to 13 overs after all the nuisance that took place earlier. Kerala got bowled out for 120 in 12 overs, with Samson and Vishnu Vinod chipping in with a couple of cameos. Ashwin Hebbar’s 34-ball 64 played a crucial role in Andhra chasing the game down exactly off the last ball of the match. Ravi Teja finished the proceedings with a six off the last ball.

In the Maharashtra Derby, Maharashtra got bowled out for a paltry 89 runs in 15 overs. Akash Parkar returned with figures of 3/22 for Mumbai. It was a walk in the park for Aditya Tare’s Mumbai, who chased the total down in 9.2 overs. Whilst many expected this to go down the wire, it was pretty much one-sided.

Baroda is proving to be quite a competition for the rest of the sides. They registered a comprehensive victory against Saurashtra in Rajkot. Saurashtra could only score 131 runs in their 20 overs, as their batters contributed in bits and pieces. K Devdhar and Deepak Hooda stroked their way towards the target as Baroda chased the total down in 16.3 overs.