Syed Mushtaq Ali trophy: Hat-tricks for Chawla, Pandey; Yuvraj fails

Yuvraj Singh was recently recalled to the national squad. (Source: File photo)

Yuvraj Singh failed with the bat as minnows Rajasthan shocked Punjab by 4 wickets in a Group B encounter of the Syed Mushtaq T20 tournament in Kochi on Saturday. Batting first, Punjab managed a paltry 130 for six in 20 overs with Mandeep Singh smashing 76 off 52 balls with seven fours and three sixes. Yuvraj was dismissed for two runs by a slower delivery from Rajat Bhatia, caught by Rajesh Bisnoi.

Save Mandeep, only Gurinder Singh (29 n.o.) crossed the 20-run mark. Bhatia again proved his skills as slow medium pacer in this format with figures of 2/16 in 4 overs. In reply, Rajasthan were reeling at 76 for five in 14 overs but a 53-run stand between Rajesh Bishnoi (58) and Dishant Yagnik (23 n.o.) put them on the cusp of victory. Bishnoi hit four boundaries and equal number of sixes in his 32-ball innings.

Yuvraj was recently recalled to the Indian team for the T20 series against Australia later this month. He did bowl well taking two wickets for 16 runs but it was difficult to stop the opposition while defending such a low total. Punjab captain Harbhajan Singh did not play Saturday’s match due to some personal commitments but will take part in the next game.

Hat-trick heroes

While there was disappointment in store for Yuvraj, India discard Piyush Chawla and paceman Ishwar Pandey took hat-tricks as they inspired their teams Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, respectively, to comprehensive wins.
Leg-spinner Chawla returned with a four-wicket haul including a hat-trick to guide Uttar Pradesh to a comfortable seven-wicket win over Maharashtra in a weather-hit Group D match. Chawla picked up Ankit Bawne (7) in the sixth over and the next two batsmen — Shrikant Mundhe (3) and Rahul Tripathi (0) in consecutive balls of the eighth over as Maharashtra slipped to 62 for five. Chawla (4/28) was supported well by pacer Ankit Rajpoot (3/15) as Uttar Pradesh restricted Maharashtra to 109 for 7 after the match was reduced to 12-overs-a-side. They then overhauled the target in 11.2 overs.

Pandey, meanwhile, ripped apart the rival top-order with a four-wicket haul as Madhya Pradesh overwhelmed Andhra Pradesh by five wickets in a Group C match in Vadodara. Pandey vindicated his captain Naman Ojha’s decision to field first as he reduced Andhra Pradesh to 22 for four inside five overs with a four-wicket burst. He removed both the openers — Srikar Bharat (9) and Prasanth Kumar (3) — before dismissing Koripalli Srikanth (9) and A Pradeep (0).

Andhra could never recover from that assault and only four of their batsmen could manage double digit score with Sirla Srinivas being the top-scorer with 22. All they managed was only 95 on the board. Madhya Pradesh chased down the total comfortably with 10 balls to spare and five wickets in hand.

Pathan serves reminder

After veteran RP Singh’s incisive spell in the Vijay Hazare Trophy final, it was time for another seasoned left-arm paceman Irfan Pathan to serve a reminder to the selectors with a five-wicket haul as Baroda crushed Assam by 49 runs. Pathan recorded career-best T20 figures of 5/13 in four overs as Assam were restricted to 116 for 9 in 20 overs reply to Baroda’s decent score of 165 for eight.

The left-arm seamer, who is leading Baroda finished his spell with the new ball in one stretch getting wickets in all his four overs. Courtesy Pathan, Assam were in tatters at 22 for five inside seven overs and never recovered from that blow.

In other matches, Wriddhiman Saha’s brutal innings and Mohammed Shami’s fiery spell ensured an easy 61-run win for Bengal against Hyderabad in their opening group A league match. Batting first, Bengal scored a healthy 185 for 4 in 20 overs courtesy Wriddhiman’s 47-ball-81. In reply, Hyderabad were all out for 124 in 16.2 overs with Shami being the pick of the bowlers with figures of 3/18 in 2.2 overs.