Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy: Punjab shock for Karnataka

Siddharth Kaul’s four for 26 and Prabhsimran Singh’s unbeaten 89 powered Punjab past Karnataka by nine wickets in a Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy fixture.

Siddharth Kaul scalped a four-for. (File photo).

Siddharth Kaul’s superb spell of four for 26, including a hat-trick, and Prabhsimran Singh’s unbeaten 89 powered Punjab past Karnataka by nine wickets in Elite Group A of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Twenty20 Trophy at Alur (1) ground here on Tuesday.

Punjab moved to the top with two wins in as many matches, while Karnataka slipped to a first loss in two outings.

READ: Vivek Singh slams ton as Bengal beats Jharkhand

Falling apart

After being put in, Karnataka stumbled to a sub-par 125 for eight in 20 overs.

Only Rohan Kadam (32, 33b, 3x4) showed some fight, while the more established players — Devdutt Padikkal (19), Karun Nair (13) and K. Gowtham (13) — faltered.

Punjab seamer Siddharth’s hat-trick came in the 17th over when he dismissed Kadam, Aniruddha Joshi and A. Mithun in succession.

Prabhsimran on song

Punjab faced no trouble in the chase, reaching the target with 5.2 overs to spare. Young wicketkeeper-batsman Prabhsimran and Abhishek Sharma (30, 30b, 2x4, 1x6) set Punjab on the right track, putting on 93 for the opening wicket.

Prabhsimran returned unbeaten with a 52-ball 89 laced with nine fours and five sixes.

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Devdhar, Shivam shine

In another fixture, Railways outclassed Uttar Pradesh by eight wickets. Mrunal Devdhar (57, 52b, 8x4) and Shivam Chaudhary (56 not out, 39b, 6x4, 1x6) helped Railways reach the small 134-run target with 14 balls to spare.

With two wins, Railways is tied with Punjab on points, but the latter is ahead on net run rate.

THE SCORES Elite A (Bengaluru): Karnataka 125/8 in 20 overs (Rohan Kadam 32, Siddarth Kaul 4/26, incl. a hat-trick) lost to Punjab 127/1 in 14.4 overs (Abhishek Sharma 30, Prabhsimran Singh 89 n.o.). Tripura 93 in 18.1 overs (Aquib Nabi 3/10) lost to Jammu & Kashmir 94/3 in 14.5 overs (Suryansh Raina 33). Uttar Pradesh 133/9 in 20 overs (Karan Sharma 55) lost to Railways 137/2 in 17.4 overs (Mrunal Devdhar 57, Shivam Chaudhary 56 n.o.). Elite B (Kolkata): Bengal 161/6 in 20 overs (Vivek Singh 100 n.o., Monu Kumar 3/30) bt Jharkhand 145/9 in 20 overs (Virat Singh 47, Ishan Porel 3/34). Hyderabad 153/8 in 20 overs (Tanmay Agarwal 34, Tilak Varma 44, Suryakant Pradhan 3/34) bt Odisha 147/4 in 20 overs (Govinda Poddar 50, Subhranshu Senapati 43 n.o., Rajesh Dhuper 30 n.o.). Elite C (Vadodara): Chhattisgarh 192/5 in 20 overs (Rishabh Tiwari 44, Shashank Chandrakar 44, Harpreet Singh 42) lost to Maharashtra 196/2 in 20 overs (Kedar Jadhav 84 n.o., Naushad Shaikh 78 n.o.). Gujarat 172/5 in 20 overs (Priyank Panchal 46, Chirag Gandhi 38 n.o., Ripal Patel 41 n.o.) bt Uttarakhand 99/8 in 20 overs (Piyush Chawla 3/12). Himachal 109 in 20 overs (Prashant Chopra 39, Lukman Meriwala 3/13, Babashafi Pathan 3/9) lost to Baroda 112/6 in 19 overs (Kedar Devdhar 49 n.o.).