Karnataka capped off their miserable domestic cricket season by crashing out of the Mushtaq Ali Trophy T20 tournament, after slumping to third defeat in four matches here on Thursday.

Needing to win their penultimate match against Maharashtra to stay in contention for a place in the knockouts, Karnataka suffered a 26-run loss to make another early exit. For Karnataka, who had earlier failed to defend their Ranji and Vijay Hazare Trophies, this was the last chance to redeem something in a season of disappointing results.  
     
Incidentally, Karnataka’s campaign in the Ranji Trophy had come to a halt after their defeat to Maharashtra in their final group match.

In a Group D match here, Nikhil Naik smashed 67 off 45 balls as Maharashtra picked up their third win to enhance their chances of qualification for last-eight stage.

Naik’s blistering knock and a 20-ball 33 from Ankit Bawne pushed Maharashtra to 184/8 in 20 overs.

Opener Robin Uthappa (80 off 52) gave Karnataka more than a fighting chance in the chase but the team could only manage 158 before being bowled out with nine balls to spare.

Barring skipper Vinay Kumar (23), none of the batsmen was able to support Uthappa, who was the ninth batsmen to be dismissed.

Uttar Pradesh, who registered their fourth successive win, have already progressed to quarterfinals while Maharashtra (12 points) and Mumbai (8), who will face each other in their final match, will have direct shoot out for a second knockout place from the group.
Karnataka will meet bottom huggers Odisha in the last group match.

score board

MAHARASHTRA: Swapnil Gugale lbw Vinay Kumar 4, Chirag Khurana c Gautam b Arvind 1, Kedar Jadhav c Suchith b Vinay 14, Nikhil Naik c Agarwal b Vinay 67, Prayag Bhati b Suchith 39, Anupam Sanklecha c Uthappa b Binny 11, Ankit Bawne     c Arvind b Mithun 33, Rahul Tripathi c Binny b Mithun 0, Shrikant Mundhe (not out) 1, Shamshuzama Kazi (not out) 5. EXTRAS: (B-4, LB-2, W-2, NB-1) 9. Total (for 8 wkts, 20 overs) 184.

Fall of wickets: 1-4, 2-16, 3-25, 4-96, 5-110, 6-173, 7-173, 8-178.
Bowling: R Vinay Kumar 4-0-32-3, S Arvind 4-0-35-1, A Mithun 4-0-30-2, J Suchith 3-0-28-1, Stuart Binny 2-0-24-1, Shreyas Gopal 3-0-29-0.

KARNATAKA: Mohammed Taha b Muthuswami 4, Robin Uthappa c Bawne b Sanklecha 80, Aniruddha Joshi lbw Muthuswami 0, CM Gautam c Bawne b Sanklecha 12, Mayank Agarwal c Bhati b Tripathi 16, Sruart Binny lbw Mundhe 0, R Vinay Kumar c Kazi b Tripathi 23, Shreyas Gopal (run out) 3, J Suchith c Bawne b Gugale 3, A Mithun c Tripathi b Sanklecha 10, S Arvind (not out) 1. EXTRAS (LB-2, W-2, NB-2) 6. Total (all out, 18.3 overs) 158.

Fall of wickets: 1-4, 2-4, 3-23, 4-58, 5-59, 6-106, 7-113, 8-123, 9-157.
Bowling: DJ Muthuswami 4-0-30-2, Anupam Sanklecha 3.3-0-23-3, Shrikant Mundhe 3-0-24-1, Rahul Tripathi 4-0-31-2, Swapnil Gugale 4-0-48-1.

Mushtaq Ali round-up

Group A (Nagpur)
Brief scores: Haryana: 122/9 in 20 overs (RM Dagar 39, HV Patel 26; B Sharma 3-20) lt to Himachal Pradesh: 123/8 in 19.2 overs (Robint Bist 27; A H Hooda 3-15). Himachal Pradesh: 4; Haryana: 0.

Bengal: 147/5 (Abhishek Das 56, Sayan Sekhar Mondal 52; Akshay Karnewar 2-26) lt to Vidarbha: 151/6 (Faiz Fazal 49, Apoorv Wankhede 37). Vidarbha: 4; Bengal: 0.

 Gujarat: 105 all out in 19.4 overs (Raxlee Taylor 44; W Anthony Dhas 3-19) lt to Tamil Nadu: 111/1 (Abhinav Mukund 67 n.o., Baba Aparajith 30 n.o.). Tamil Nadu: 4; Gujarat: 0.
group b (Kochi)

Jharkhand: 179/4 in 20 overs (Shasheem Rathor 50, Saurabh Tiwary 57 n.o.; Rahil Sambyal 2-43) bt Jammu & Kashmir: 103/7 in 20 overs (Ian Dev Singh 67; Sonu Singh 2-16). Jharkhand: 4; J & K: 0.

Saurashtra: 140/5 in 20 overs (Jaydev Unadkat 39 n.o., Deepak Punia 30 n.o.; Chandrapal Singh 3-13) bt Rajasthan: 115 all out in 19.3 overs (Chandrapal Singh 36; Shaurya Sanandia 3-13). Saurashtra: 4; Rajasthan: 0.

Tripura: 96 all out in 18 overs (Sarabjit Ladda 3-20, Harbhajan Singh 2-17) lt to Punjab: 100/2 in 15.3 overs (Anmol Malhotra 40).

group c (Vadodara)
Baroda: 181/5 in 20 overs (Hardik Pandya 48, Mrunal Devdhar 33; Ankit Sharma 2-34) bt Madhya Pradesh: 128 all out in 16.4 overs (Harpreet Singh Bhatia 52; Irfan Pathan 4-34). Baroda: 4; Madhya Pradesh: 0.

Railways: 165/8 in 20 overs (Saurabh Wakaskar 39; Saurabh Bandekar 4-25) bt Goa: 116/9 in 20 overs (Ritu Raj Singh 29 n.o.; Karn Sharma 5-24, Ranjit Mali 4-24).
Andhra: 117/8 in 20 overs (AG Pradeep 26; J Syed Mohammad 3-15) bt Assam: 105 all out in 19.3 overs (J Syed Mohammad 42; Cheepurapalli Stephen 4-14). Andhra: 4; Assam: 0.

group d (cuttack)
Mumbai: 164/6 in 20 overs (Shreyas Iyer 78, Akhil Herwadkar 28; Ankit Rajpoot 2-27, Piyush Chawla 2-21) lt to Uttar Pradesh: 168/6 in 19.4 overs (Umang Sharma 47 n.o., Prashant Gupta 33; Dhawal Kulkarni 2-31, Siddhesh Lad 2-27). Uttar Pradesh: 4, Mumbai: 0.

Odisha: 176/4 in 20 overs (Abhishek Yadav 52) lt to Services: 177/6 in 19.2 overs (Nakul Verma 63; Biplab Samantray 2-21, Deepak Behera 2-39). Services: 4; Odisha: 0.

Group D

Teams     Mat     Won        Lost           Tied    Pts
UP     4        4     0    0    16
Maharashtra    4      3    1    0    12
Mumbai    4      2    2    0     8
Services    4      2    2    0    8
Karnataka    4       1    3     0    4
Odisha    4      0    4    0    0