Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy: Cheteshwar Pujara scores a blistering half-century; Tamil Nadu, Himachal register easy wins – Firstcricket News, Firstpost

Indore: Samarth Vyas hit a breezy 97 while Test specialist Chetsehwar Pujara struck a 35-ball 62 as Saurashtra crushed minnows Nagaland by 97 runs in a Group D match of the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 Trophy here on Friday.

Sent in to bat, Vyas and Pujara shared quick 124 runs for the second wicket to lay the foundation for Saurashtra’s total of 203 for 5.

While Vyas decorated his innings with seven boundaries and as many sixes, Pujara struck nine fours and had two hits over the fence.

Akash Singh (2/30) and Imliwati Lemtur (2/30) shared four wickets between them for Nagaland.

Nagaland were never in the hunt in their chase as they lost wickets at regular intervals to be reduced to 39 for 4 in 9.3 overs.

Wicket-keeper batter Chetan Bist (33) and Rongsen Jonathan (22) added 52 runs for the fifth wicket but it was not enough as Nagaland scored 106 for 5 in their allotted 20 overs.

In another Group D match, Himachal Pradesh defeated Bihar by 29 runs.

Asked to bat, HP made 179 for 7 but Bihar failed to chase down the target, managing 150 for 6.

Gujarat defeated Baroda by two wickets in another Group D match.

Krunal Pandya top-scored for Baroda with a 38-ball 57 before being bowled out for 153.

In reply, Gujarat chased down the target, reaching 156 for 8 in 19.6 overs.

Fancied Tamil Nadu crushed Sikkim by nine wickets in their Group E Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy match here on Friday.

Batting first, Sikkim were all out for 79, and in response, Bengal completed the formalities with more than 10 overs to spare at the Ekana Cricket Stadium B.

TN’s decision to field first after winning the toss worked well as they got wickets at regular intervals.

Left-arm spinner Ravisrinivasan Sai Kishore was the most successful bowler for Tamil Nadu, finishing with excellent figures of 3/7 in his full quota of four overs.

There were two wickets apiece for Sanjay Yadav and Manimaran Siddharth.

Only three Sikkim batters — opener Pankaj Kumar Rawat (22), Ankur Malik (17), and Anwesh Sharma (11) — managed to reach double figures in a forgettable outing.

Opener Narayan Jagadeesan top-scored for Tamil Nadu with a brisk 35-ball 58 as TN won the game with as many as 62 deliveries remaining.

Brief scores:

Saurashtra 203 for 5 in 20 overs (Samarth Vyas 97, Chestehwar Pujara 62; Akash Singh 2/30) vs Nagaland 106 for 5 in 20 overs (Chetan Bist 33; Yuvraj Chudasama 1/12).

Himachal Pradesh 179 for 7 in 20 overs (Sumeet Verma 50; Ashutosh Aman 2/33) vs Bihar 150 for 6 in 20 overs (Sakibul Gani 48, Bipin Saurabh 40; Vaibhav Arora 3/34).

Baroda 153 all out in 20 overs (Krunal Pandya 57; Arzan Nagwaswalla 2/24) vs Gujarat 156 for 8 in 20 overs (Priyank Panchal 44; Ninad Rathva 3/4).

Sikkim 79 all out in 20 overs (Ravisrinivasan Sai Kishore 3/7) lost to Tamil Nadu 80 for one in 9.4 overs (Narayan Jagadeesan 58 not out) by nine wickets.

Odisha 86 all out in 18.1 overs (Abhishek Raut 25; Writtick Chatterjee 3/2, Ranjot Khaira 2/4) lost to Bengal 87/2 in 14.3 overs (Abhimanyu Easwaran 37 not out, Abishek Porel 20 not out) by eight wickets.

Jharkhand 106/9 in 20 overs (Aayush Bhardwaj 30; Gurinder Singh 4/20, Sandeep Sharma 3/16) lost to Chandigarh 107/1 in 17.3 overs (Manan Vohra 72 not out) by nine wickets.

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