JOIN USSkipper Manish Pandey's blazing half-century and pacers' impressive performance helped Karnataka begin their Syed Mushtaq Ali campaign on a winning note against Assam in a Group D match here on Thursday.
Put into bat first, Karnataka posted a competitive 169 for six courtesy Pandey’s 39-ball 74 which came with the help of six fours and four sixes.
In reply Assam, gave some anxious moments to Karnataka through a 63-run stand between Wasiqur Rahman (62) and Rajjakuddin Ahmed (53 n.o.) but J Suchith dismissed the former to change the course of the game. Assam eventually managed 154 for seven to suffer a 15-run defeat.
Karnataka built their total mainly on the strength of Pandey’s whirlwind innings and his 93-run association with K V Siddharth (27). On either side of this partnership, there was nothing much to shout about Karnataka’s batting.
After adding 33 runs in 4.1 overs for the opening wicket, Sharath B R was dismissed. One-drop and vice-captain Karun Nair’s poor run continued as the right-hander fell for an eight-ball three. Other opener Rohan Kadam fell soon after a sedate 30-ball 26 before Pandey exploded like only he does.
Assam innings began in the worst possible manner with pace spearhead R Vinay Kumar (2/22) sending back opener Riyan Parag with the second ball of the innings for a duck. A run out and a wicket each by A Mithun (1/20) and debutante Manoj Bhandage saw Assam slip to a precarious 20 for four.
Opener Pallavkumar Das (23) and Rahman steadied the ship with a 41-run stand before Prasidh Krishna (1/26) separated the duo and left Assam on a shaky 61 for five. Rahman and Ahmed then launched counter attack to raise Assam’s hopes but once Suchith ended the partnership, Karnataka didn't let loose their grip over the match.
With this win, Karnataka earned four points while Assam drew blank.
Bengal's record win
Elsewhere, Abhimanyu Easwaran cracked his maiden Twenty20 century as former champions Bengal secured a record 159-run win over Mizoram in another Group D fixture.
The 23-year-old smashed five sixes and eight fours en route to his 56-ball 107 as Bengal piled 221/4 after being put in by Mizoram at the Barabati Stadium.
Abhimanyu's effort was brilliantly complemented by Royal Challengers Bangalore-recruit Prayas Ray Barman as the leg-spinner claimed 4/14 on his Twenty20 debut while Pradipta Pramanik bagged 3/13 as Mizoram folded for 62 in 13 overs to hand Bengal the biggest margin win of the tournament.
Karnataka held the earlier record -- a 123-run victory over Jharkhand in Kolkata in 2018.
Iyer breaks record
Shreyas Iyer hit a blazing 147 (15x6, 7x4) off 55 balls to help Mumbai defeat Sikkim by 154 runs in their Group C match in Indore.
Iyer's 147 is the highest T20 score by an Indian. He surpassed the record of Rishabh Pant, who had scored unbeaten 128 for Delhi Daredevils.
His 147 is also the 12th highest score by a batsman in the T20 cricket history.
Test specialist Cheteshwar Pujara hit an unbeaten 100 in 61 balls, but the effort went in vain as Railways chased down Saurashtra's 189-run target with five wickets in hand at the Holkar Stadium.
SCORE BOARD
KARNATAKA: Rohan Kadam b Parag 26, Sharath BR c Roy b Nechim 15, Karun Nair c A Das b Rajjakuddin 3, Manish Pandey c Rajjakuddin b Nechim 74, K V Siddharth (run out) 27, Manoj Bhandage (not out) 11, Vinay Kumar c A Sinha b M Hussain 0, A Mithun (not out) 5. Extras (B-4, LB-1, W-1, NB-2) 8. Total (for 6 wkts, 20 overs) 169.
Fall of wickets: 1-33, 2-39, 3-58, 4-151, 5-161, 6-161.
Bowling: Arup Das 4-0-34-0, Abu Nechim 4-0-32-2, Mukhtar Hussain 4-0-36-1, Rajjakuddin Ahmed 3-0-19-1, Jitumoni Kalita 2-0-13-0, Riyan Parag 2-0-18-1, Pallavkumar Das 1-0-12-0.
ASSAM: Riyan Parag c Kadam b Vinay 0, Pallavkumar Das c Suchith b Bhandage 23, Rishav Das c Sharath BR b Mithun 8, Sibsankar Roy (run out) 0, Amit Sinha c Vinay b Prasidh 1, Wasiqur Rahman c Mithun b Suchith 62, Rajjakuddin Ahmed (not out)53, Jitumoni Kalita c Sharath BR b Vinay 4, Abu Nechim (not out) 1. Extras (W-1, NB-1) 2. Total (for 7 wkts, 20 overs) 154.
Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-9, 3-9, 4-20, 5-61, 6-124, 7-142.
Bowling: Vinay Kumar 3-0-22-2, A Mithun 3-0-20-1, Prasidh Krishna 3-0-26-1, KC Cariappa 4-0-20-0, Manoj Bhandage 3-0-32-1, J Suchith 4-0-34-1.
Other Group D brief scores: Odisha: 137 all out in 19.4 overs (Subharanshu Senapati 51, Rajesh Mohanty 36; Pankaj Kumar Rao 2-23, Shakeeb Ahmed 2-22, Aishwarya Mourya 3-20) lt to Chhattisgarh: 138/0 in 16.1 overs (Rishabh Tiwari 71 n.o., Shashank Chandraker 57 n.o.).
Bengal: 221/4 in 20 overs (Shreevats Goswami 55, Vivek Singh 28, Abhimanyu Easwaran 107; Taruwar Kohli 2-49) bt Mizoram: 62 all out in 13 overs (Pradipta Pramanik 3-13, Prayas Barman 4-14).
Arunachal Pradesh: 106/6 in 20 overs (Samarth Seth 26, Kshtiz Sharma 46 n.o.; Sumit Kumar 3-13) lt to Haryana: 110/2 in 15.1 overs (Chaitanya Bishnoi 60 n.o., Nitin Saini 45 n.o.).
Group A: Kerala bt Manipur by 83 runs; Jharkhand bt Delhi by 3 runs; J & K bt Nagaland by 9 wickets.
Group B: Rajasthan bt Tamil Nadu by 53 runs; Gujarat bt Meghalaya by 13 runs; Vidarbha bt Himachal by 3 wickets.
Group C: Railways bt Saurashtra by 5 wickets; Mumbai bt Sikkim by 153 runs; Madhya Pradesh bt Punjab by 34 runs.
Group E: Uttarakhand bt Services by 3 wkts; Baroda bt Tripura by 8 wkts; Puducherry bt Hyderabad by 3 runs; Maharashtra bt Uttar Pradesh by 12 runs.
Points: Win: 4; Loss: 0.