Uttar Pradesh defeated Karnataka by ten runs in a Group B Super League match of the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 tournament here on Thursday.
Karnataka skipper R Vinay Kumar asked UP to bat first after winning the toss, and his bowlers restricted the opposition to 163 for seven in 20 overs. Mohammad Kaif was the chief contributor to UP’s competitive the total, making 70 off 54 balls with three fours and four sixes.
For Karnataka, medium pacers Stuart Binny, Abhimanyu Mithun and Vinay chipped in with two wickets apiece.
In reply, Karnataka made a stuttering start losing Manish Pandey and Kunal Kapoor with just seven runs on the board, both falling to Praveen Kumar. Robin Uthappa too departed soon, lofting left-arm seamer RP Singh to Tanmay Srivastav, as Karnataka slipped to 31 for three in 5.5 overs.
That was hardly the beginning Karnataka were looking for, but Binny (39, 25b, 4x4, 2x6) and KL Rahul (34, 28b, 4x4) pulled Karnataka ahead with a 67-run association for the fourth wicket that came in just over eight overs.
Just when it seemed Karnataka were cruising towards their second successive win in this tournament, Binny was run out -- Umang Sharma’s throw catching him short of crease.
At 98 for four in 13.1 overs, Karnataka would still have fancied their chances of pulling off a win with the likes of Karun Nair, Vinay, CM Gautam and Mithun still in their ranks.
But those hopes remained unfounded as UP bowlers pegged Karnataka back with regular strikes as they ended up with 153 for eight in 20 overs.
Score board
UTTAR PRADESH: Prashant Gupta c Vinay b Mithun 4, Gaurav Tomar c Kunal b Gowtham 25, Mohammad Kaif c Karun b Mithun 70, Aksh Deep Nath c Mithun b Binny 2, Tanmay Srivastav c Kunal b Binny 22, Praveen Kumar (not out) 8, Piyush Chawla b Vinay 0, Imtiaz Ahmed c & b Vinay 5. Extras (LB-15, W-11) 16. Total (for 7 wkts, 20 overs) 163
Fall of wickets: 1-7, 2-58, 3-74, 4-144, 5-149, 6-157, 7-163.
Bowling: SL Akshay 3-0-21-0, Stuart Binny 4-0-29-2, K Gowtham 4-0-41-1, Manish Pandey 1-0-8-0, R Vinay Kumar 4-0-24-2, A Mithun 4-0-25-2.
KARNATAKA: Robin Uthappa c Srivastav b RP Singh 20, Manish Pandey c Tomar b Praveen 4, Kunal Kapoor c & b Praveen 0, KL Rahul (run out) 34, Stuart Binny (run out) 39, Karun Nair c Sharma b Gupta 29, CM Gautam c Praveen b PS Gupta 7, R Vinay Kumar (not out) 8, K Gowtham c Praveen b Ahmed 9, A Mithun (not out) 0. Extras (B-1, LB-1, W-1) 3. Total (for 8 wkts, 20 overs) 153.
Fall of wickets: 1-7, 2-7, 3-31, 4-98, 5-105, 6-135, 7-135, 8-147.
Bowling: Praveen Kumar 4-1-18-2, Imtiaz Ahmad 4-0-30-1, RP Singh 4-0-23-1, AS Mishra 3-0-25-0, Piyush Chawla 2-0-27-0, Prashant Gupta 3-0-28-2.
Other scores in brief: Group A: Delhi: 80 all out in 19.5 overs (Suryakant Pradhan 4-11, Ankit Yadav 2-19) lt to Odisha: 84/3 in 18.4 overs (Ankit Yadav 26, Govinda Poddar 25 n.o.).
Vidarbha: 138/5 in 19 overs (Faiz Fazal 27, Amol Ubarhande 55 n.o.; Padmanabhan Prasanth 2-25) lt to (via VJD method) Kerala: 111/9 in 12.3 (Raiphi Gomez 42 n.o.; Shrikant Wagh 2-27, Ravikumar Thakur 2-18).
Group B: Punjab: 168/6 in 20 overs (Ravi Inder Singh 60, Mayank Sidhana 30; Shami Ahmed 2-30, Sayan Mondal 2-21, Sanjib Sanyal 2-35).
