RAJKOT: Mumbai, Punjab, Karnataka, Himachal Pradesh and Bengal finished as toppers in their respective groups to directly qualify for the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy T20 quarterfinals on Saturday, while double defending champion Tamil Nadu crashed out of the group stage. The B Aparajith-led side finished third in Group E behind Bengal and Chhattisgarh with 16 points in 6 matches. Tamil Nadu won four out of its six matches, finishing two points behind Chhattisgarh.
Uttarakhand opener Avneesh Sudha’s 66-ball 96 went in vain as Mumbai bowlers held their nerve to pull off a two-run win here at the Saurashtra Cricket Stadium.
Mumbai finished with 24 points to top group A and made the quarters directly.
Vidarbha finished second and will have to play the pre-quarterfinals.
For Mumbai, Yashasvi Jaiswal slammed 45 to lead it to a competitive 174 for five. In reply, Uttarakhand managed 172 for nine with Shams Mulani (2/26) and Mohit Avasthi (2/45) returning with two wickets apiece.
In a group B match at Jaipur, Indian opener Shubman Gill slammed an unbeaten 57 in 44 balls, while Prabhsimran Singh remained unbeaten on 80 (49b) as Punjab chased down Uttar Pradesh’s 148 with nine wickets in hand in 15.1 overs.
The big win helped Punjab edge out Delhi on net run-rate for the top spot as the latter will have to fight it out in the pre-quarters.
At Mohali, medium pacer Auqib Nabi became the first Jammu and Kashmir bowler to take a hat-trick in Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy as he picked the wickets of Ravi Chauhan, Anshul Gupta and Rahul Singh in successive deliveries en route to a fine 3/21 against the Services.
But his heroic effort was not enough as Services chased down the target of 150 by three wickets with four balls to spare in a group C match.
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