Syed Mushtaq Ali T20: Karnataka beats Mumbai hollow

Unbeaten in seven matches in the preliminary phase in Cuttack, Karnataka's fast bowlers, proficient in seam and swing, proved to be too strong for a rival filled with good stroke players and hitters.

Rohan Kadam scored an unbeaten fifty to take Karnataka home in the Super League stage of the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 tournament.

Karnataka knocked over Mumbai for its worst score in a competitive Twenty20 format of the game and won its first Super League match of the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 Trophy hands down at the Holkar Stadium on Friday.

Unbeaten in seven matches in the preliminary phase in Cuttack, Karnataka’s fast bowlers, proficient in seam and swing, proved to be too strong for a rival filled with good stroke players and hitters. Four of them were seen in lively action with the new ball in the powerplay overs and in the eighth.

Except for Vasuki Koushik, the team’s success story in the preliminary phase, the other three found victims coming their way in their opening bursts. Then, Rohan Kadam scored a brisk unbeaten half century to complete his side’s emphatic win.

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After taking the field in daylight, the old wily hand of Vinay Kumar began the procession, first drawing Prithvi Shaw to touch a well-directed ball wide of slip where Mayank Agarwal converted a superb catch. The ball did a bit by way of bounce and lateral movement after pitching. It was the kind of start Karnataka needed to get inspired after Mumbai chose to bat.

After Shaw fell without scoring, Mumbai’s second opener Siddhesh Lad faced a torrid over from the 1.88 metre tall Prasidh Krishna. Lad swayed away from a short ball and heaved at another. Krishna challenged the Mumbai top and middle order bowling fast and straight outside the off stump and got rid off Lad.

Manoj Bhandage — another debutant for Karnataka in the Twenty20 preliminaries in Cuttack — broke the back of Mumbai by forcing a false shot from Shreyas Iyer and winning a leg-before decision against Aditya Tare.

Mumbai was literally flattened at 39 for five by the last ball of the eighth over.

Making brilliant stops at point on the 30-yard circle that prevented the ball from racing to the fence, Jagadeesha Suchith impressed. And the left-arm spinner made his first over count, removing Suryakumar Yadav.

It was a near-perfect bowling and fielding effort by Karnataka; the super effort by Vinay running sideways at extra cover to hold a catch that Dhawal Kulkarni had lifted off Koushik, depicted Karnataka’s outstanding team performance.