KL Rahul Stars as Karnataka Wins by 7 Wickets

KL Rahul hit an unbeaten 84 to lead Karnataka to a 7-wicket win over Punjab in the Syed Mushtaq Ali tournament on a recent day. Karnataka continued their impressive run in the tournament.

Punjab sensed an opportunity to defend 163 when they removed Devedutt Padikkal for just 2, but Rahul helped Karnataka get off to a flier.

He added 46 for the second wicket with Rohan Kadam and was then involved in a 60-run partnership with Manish Pandey for the third wicket to quash Punjab's hopes.

Karun Nair then joined Rahul after Pandey's departure and hit a rapid unbeaten 23 to complete the seven-wicket win.

Earlier in the day, Punjab had Mandeep Singh to thank for after the top order failed to contribute.

Shubman Gill made only 11 and with Abhishek Sharma and Anmolpreet Singh also falling cheaply, the onus was on Mandeep to resurrect the innings.

Gurkeerat Singh Mann then forged a 88-run stand alongside Mandeep in ten overs with the skipper registering a fifty.

Mandeep made a 50-ball 76 and became Ronit More's third victim before the pacer added one more to his tally.

**Brief scores: Punjab** 163/6 in 20 overs (Mandeep Singh 76, Gurkeerat Singh Mann 44; Ronit More 4-27) **lost to Karnataka** 167/3 in 18 overs (KL Rahul 84*, Manish Pandey 33; Harpreet Brar 1-27) **by 7 wickets.**

Prithvi Shaw hit his second fifty in three games post his comeback as Mumbai beat Jharkhand by five wickets in Surat.

Chasing 171, Shaw put on a show right from the word go as he smacked five sixes and four fours in his 39-ball 64.

Even though Aditya Tare and Shreyas Iyer struggled, Shivam Dube's three sixes and Siddhesh Lad's finishing act ensured Mumbai go past the finishing line with five deliveries to spare.

**Brief scores: Jharkhand** 170/5 in 20 overs (Kumar Deobrat 58, Sumit Kumar 33; Shubham Ranjane 2-17) **lost to Mumbai** 171/5 in 19.1 overs (Prithvi Shaw 64; Sonu Singh 2-34) **by 5 wickets.**

Baroda collapsed badly with the bat against Maharashtra to lose by 67 runs.

Chasing 166, Baroda were never in the hunt with only Kedar Devdhar going past 20.

In ten overs, Baroda lost half their side that included the likes of Krunal Pandya, Deepak Hooda and Yusuf Pathan.

At 49/5, the result was a foregone conclusion as every single Maharashtra bowler apart from Digvijay Deshmukh chipped in with at least one wicket as Baroda eventually folded for 98 in the 18th over.

**Brief scores: Maharashtra** 165/2 in 20 overs (Azim Kazi 48*, Kedar Jadhav 47*; Swapnil Singh 1-19) **beat Baroda** 98 in 17.3 overs (Kedar Devdhar 23; Satyajeet Bachhav 2-12) **by 67 runs.**