Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy: Ruturaj slams third consecutive half-century as Maharashtra beat Odisha

In another group match, defending champions Tamil Nadu chased down 130 in 16.1 overs against Pondicherry to register their third consecutive win.

Ruturaj Gaikwad scored his third straight half-century (81 off 47 balls) and powered Maharashtra to a 27-run win over Odisha in an Elite Group A match of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy T20 cricket tournament here on Saturday.

In another group match, defending champions Tamil Nadu chased down 130 in 16.1 overs against Pondicherry to register their third consecutive win.

In the Maharashtra-Odisha match, skipper Gaikwad won the toss and opted to bat and led the way for the team.

After scoring fifties against TN and Punjab, the stylish right-hander toyed with the Odisha attack and shared a 131-run partnership for the second wicket with India discard Kedar Jadhav, who made 55 from 35 balls.

The quickfire partnership which came in less than 12 overs put Maharashtra on track for a big score. Gaikwad played his trademark elegant drives and did not hesitate to go for the big shots.

His dismissal in the 15th over came as some relief for the Odisha bowlers as the rest of the batters could not continue in same vein.

In reply, Odisha lost skipper Rajesh Dhupar with the score at 18 and save for a 56-run second wicket partnership between Anshy Rath (34) and Subhranshu Senapathi (27), the batters could not take the fight to the Maharashtra bowlers.

Left-arm medium-pacer Divyang Himganekar was the best bowler for Maharashtra, returning figures of 4 for 35.

Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu skipper N Jagadeesan sent Pondicherry into bat and the bowlers, left-arm spinner R Sai Kishore in particular, never allowed them to get going.

Ragu (32) Fabid Ahmed (27) and captain D Rohit (25) made contributions but the team could only muster 129 for 8 in 20 overs.

Left-handed opener C Hari Nishaanth powered his way to an unbeaten 75 off 49 balls as Tamil Nadu overhauled the target in the 17th over.

Meanwhile, Rajasthan continued their winning streak with their third victory in the Syed Mushtaq Ali trophy after they trounced Himachal by seven wickets in an Elite Group C game here on Saturday.

Rajasthan had earlier defeated Jharkhand and Jammu & Kashmir.

First Rajasthan restricted the opposition to 136/6 and then chased the target in just 14.4 overs, courtesy blistering knocks by in-form Deepak Hooda (70 not out off 36 balls) and Mahipal Lomror (55 off 39 balls).

At the Reliance stadium, Himachal lost both the openers Shubham Arora (11) and Abhimanyu Rana (0) early and were struggling at 11/2.

Pacer Tanveer-ul-Haq struck for the second time as he removed Nikhil Gangta for 6, after he was caught by Deepak Hooda. Himachal were in a spot of bother at 20/3.

Then, Prashant Chopra (53) and skipper Rishi Dhawan (26) tried to rally the innings with a 47-run stand for the fourth wicket.

But when it looked like the two would score big, young leggie Ravi Bishnoi castled Dhawan to bring Rajasthan back into contention

Chopra then held the innings from one end, but Rajasthan kept making inroads at regular intervals to restrict Himachal to a sub-par total.

Chasing 137, Rajasthan lost openers Aditya Garhwal (4) and Ankit Lamba (2) early and were reeling at 18/2.

But skipper Lomror and Hooda not only rallied the innings but took the side home.

While Hooda hammered five fours and as many sixes, Lomror’s knock comprised six fours and two maximums.

The duo added a match winning 111-run stand for the third wicket, which took the game away from Himachal.

Brief scores:

Pondicherry 129 for 8 in 20 overs (Ragu 32, Fabid Ahmed 27, R Sai Kishore 4/28) lost to Tamil Nadu 130 for 2 in 16.1 overs (C Hari Nishaanth 75 not out, B Aparajith 28, Sagar P Udheshi 2/22) by eight wickets. TN: 4 points, Pondicherry: 0.

Maharashtra 183 for 8 in 20 overs (Ruturaj Gaikwad 81, Kedar Jadhav 55, Debrata Pradhan 3/37, Bikash Rout 2/29) beat Odisha 156 all out in 18.5 overs (Anshy Rath 34, Abhishek Raut 29, Divyang Himganekar 4/35, Ashay Palkar 3/13) by 27 runs. Maharashtra: 4 points, Odisha: 0.

Punjab 197 for 4 in 20 overs (Prabhsimran Singh 119 not out (61 balls, 11X4, 6X6), Shubman Gill 40, Abhishek Sharma 25) beat Goa 116 for 8 in 20 overs (Suyah S Prabhudesai 30, Siddharth Kaul 3/21, Harpreet Brar 2/12, Mayank Markande 2/29) by 81 runs. Punjab: 4 points, Goa: 0.

Himachal 136/6 (Prashant Chopra 53, Rishi Dhawan 26; Tanveer Ul Haq 2/13, Ravi Bishnoi 1/27) lost to Rajasthan 141/3 (Deepak Hooda 70 not out, Mahipal Lomror 55; Rishi Dhawan 2/21) by seven wickets.

Haryana 108 all out (Rohit Pramod Sharma 29, Himanshu Rana 28; Umran Malik 4/22, Parvez Rasool 3/18) lost to Jammu and Kashmir 109/3 (Parvez Rasool 34 not out, Shubham Pundir 28 not out; Jayant Yadav 2/23) by seven wickets.

Andhra 165/4 (KS Bharat 48, Ashwin Hebber 45; Shahbaaz Nadeem 1/22) won against Jharkhand 157/9 (Ishank Jaggi 62, Utkarsh Singh 43; C Stephen 3/23; M Harishankar Reddy 3/24) by 8 runs.

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