Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy: Haryana beat Kerala, enter knock-outs

Haryana topped the Elite Group E points table after winning all their five matches

Mumbai: Haryana beat Kerala by four runs to qualify for the knock-out stage of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy T20 tournament with an all-win record in Group E here on Tuesday.

Haryana thus topped the Elite Group E points table after winning all their five matches. Put in to bat, Haryana rode on Shivam Chauhan’s 59 and a late onslaught by Rahul Tewatia (41 not out off 26 balls) to post a big total of 198/6. Later, their bowlers held their nerves to restrict Kerala to 194/6 and eke out a narrow win.

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Haryana lost opener Arun Chaprana (10) and one-down Himanshu Rana (6) early and were reeling at 43/2. But, the other opener Chaitanya Bishnoi (45 off 29 balls; 6×4; 1×6) and Chauhan (59 off 34 balls; 6×4 and 2×6) forged a 43-run stand to steady their ship. Later, Rahul Tewatia, one of the stars to emerge out of last year’s IPL, took the onus on himself and plundered four fours and two sixes to guide the team to 198/6.

Sumit Kumar, who remained unbeaten on 21 off 10 balls with three fours and a six, ably supported Tewatia, as the duo added 52 runs for the unbroken seventh wicket. For Kerala, two-down Sachin Baby top-scored with 68, but could not take his side home. They lost in-form opener Robin Uthappa (8) early. Mohammed Azharudeen (35) and skipper Sanju Samson (51) kept them in the hunt with their 81-run second wicket stand.

Brief Scores (Round V)

Group D: Madhya Pradesh 169/6 in 20 overs (parth Sahani 51 no) bt Services 167/7 in 20 overs (G Rahul Singh 53; Avesh Khan 3/23);

Goa 156/6 in 20 overs (Amit Verma 72 no) bt Vidarbha 140/8 in 20 overs (Felix alemao 3/27);

Group E: Haryana 198/6 in 20 overs (Shivam Chauhan 59, Chaitanya Bishnoi 45; Jalaj Saxena 2/25, Sachin Baby 2/26) bt Kerala 194/6 in 20 overs (Sachin Baby 68, Sanju Samson 51; Sumit Kumar 2/16, Arun Chaprana 2/49);

Delhi 192/5 in 20 overs (Kshitiz Sharma 65 not out, Himmat Singh 53; Ashith Rajiv 2/23, Rohit Damodaran 2/26) bt Puducherry 82 in 19.3 overs in (Shivank Vashisth 4/9, Jonty Sidhu 2/7);

Plate: Mizoram 83/8 in 20 overs (Ashutosh Aman 4/9) lost to Bihar 84/4 in 12.4 overs (Babul Kumar 37 not out);

Arunachal Pradesh 56/8 in 20 overs (Bipul Sharma 3/5) lost to Chandigarh 62/3 in 7.1 overs (Arslan Khan 37 no);

Sikkim 111/5 in 20 overs (Varun Sood 60 no; R Sanjay Yadav 2/24) lost to Meghalaya 112/2 in 17.3 overs (Punit Bisht 41 no; Manipur 129/8 in 20 overs (Langlonyamba Meitan Keishangbam 50 no; Stuart Binny 3/27) lost to Nagaland 131/2 in 17.1 overs (Chetan Bist 60).

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