Deepak Chahar's five-for stuns Karnataka; Yuvraj Singh flops as Punjab lose

Yuvraj Singh. Pic/ PTI

Rajasthan medium pacer Deepak Chahar produced a career-best five-for in a stunning win over Karnataka on a day of upsets as Punjab, Delhi and Uttar Padesh succumbed to their first defeats in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Twenty20 Trophy, here today. The biggest upset came under lights at Eden Gardens, when Jharkhand snapped Punjab's two-match winning run with a dramatic four-wicket win with four balls to spare.

Wicket-keeper batsman Ishan Kishan overcame cramps to set up Jharkhand's chase with a quickfire 29-ball 54 (8x4s, 2x6s). It was a forgettable day for Yuvraj Singh, who played a miserable innings of 17 from 33 balls (1x4) and was slow on the field as Punjab were severely let down by the senior pro to post a mediocre 149 for seven. Jharkhand were off to a flier with Ishan's superb knock before veteran Harbhajan Singh bowled him through the gate with a wrong one en route to a tidy 1/21 that included eight dot balls.

Saurabh Tiwary (24 off 22 balls) and Kaushal Singh (29 off 31 balls) kept them in the hunt but they could not finish the chase as eight runs were required off the last over when Vikash Singh held his nerve to take them over the line with a boundary off Manpreet Gony. This was Punjab's first loss from three matches and are on eight points along with Rajasthan, who have played two matches in Group A of the Super League. In Group B, Delhi also suffered their first loss as home side Bengal tasted their maiden win of the Super League with a nail-biting three run victory at the Jadavpur University second campus ground in Saltlake.

Delhi (eight points from three matches), however, remained at the top of Group B with eight points, as Uttar Pradesh's (four points from two) dream start came to an end with Tamil Nadu securing a five-wicket win in the first match at Eden Gardens. Fresh from his 126 not out against Bengal at Eden Gardens yesterday, Suresh Raina struck 61 off 41 balls (7x4s, 1x6) but his second successive fifty-plus score went in vain as Tamil Nadu won with four balls to spare. Washington Sundar, who made his international debut in the recent home series against Sri Lanka, dished out a brilliant all-round show.

In the first match of the day at the JU second campus ground, Chahar grabbed the headlines with a 5 for 15 and guided his team to an upset 22-run win over Karnataka. Defending 161 against a star-studded batting line-up, Chahar ran through the top-order in an astonishing first spell of 3-0-9-4 as Karnataka folded for 138 in 20 overs, their second successive defeat that virtually ended their hopes of making the final. With four days to go for the Indian Premier League auction, the former Rising Pune Supergiants pacer could not have timed his performance better. "This was crucial before the auction. The franchises are smarter now, they focus more on this T20 event before recruiting Indian players.

I will look to keep performing whenever an opportunity comes my way," Chahar said. In the second match of the day at the Jadavpur University second campus ground, Dhruv Shorey (84 off 46 balls; 7x4s, 4x6) hit a second successive fifty but it went in vain as Delhi went down to Bengal by three runs in a thrilling finish. Opting to field, Bengal amassed 170 for 6 with Sudeep Chatterjee scoring a 34-ball 51 (7x4s) and in reply Delhi were 68 for 4 before Shorey and Lalit Yadav (45 off 29 balls; 5x4s, 2x6s) eked out an 88-run partnership for the fifth wicket to revive their chase. But Sayan Ghosh (3/24) dismissed both of them in a space of five balls to derail Delhi.

Virtually out of the final reckoning, this was Bengal's first win of the Super League stage from three matches. Having lost to Punjab in the Super Over in their last outing, Karnataka opted to field as Rajasthan added 47 for the first wicket with Aditya Garhwal making 31 and Ankit Lamba coming up with a calculated 58 from 47 balls. In the first match at Eden Gardens, Sundar, who has a base price of Rs 1.5 crore for the IPL auction, claimed 2 for 32 with his off-spin as he removed the Uttar Pradesh skipper Raina to restrict Uttar Pradesh to 162 for 4. In reply, Tamil Nadu got off to a brisk start with Sundar chipping in with a 30-ball 33 (3x4s) before Sanjay Yadav set up the chase with his 32-ball 52 (2x4s, 3x6s).

Uttar Pradesh were let down by poor fielding as they dropped as many as four catches. Brief Scores: At Jadavpur University second campus ground, Saltlake: Rajasthan: 160/8 in 20 overs (Ankit Lamba 58, Aditya Garhwal 31; Sreenath Aravind 3/25, Vinay Kumar 2/29) beat Karnataka: 138 in 20 overs (Aniruddha Joshi 73 not out; Deepak Chahar 5/15, Chandrapal Singh 2/31) by 22 runs. Bengal: 170/6 in 20 overs (Sudip Chatterjee 51, Vivek Singh 32, Manoj Tiwary 25; Pradeep Sangwan 2/27, Kulwant Khejroliya 2/25) beat Delhi: 167/8; 20 overs (Dhruv Shorey 84, Lalit Yadav 45; Kanishk Seth 3/25, Sayan Ghosh 3/24) by three runs. At Eden Gardens: Uttar Pradesh: 162/4 in 20 overs (Suresh Raina 61, Shivam Chuadhary 38, Akshdeep Nath 38 not out; Washington Sundar 2/32) lost to Tamil Nadu: 163/5 in 19.2 overs (Sanjay Yadav 52, N Jagadeesan 20 not out; Ankit Rajpot 2/37, Mohsin Khan 2/20). Punjab: 149/7 in 20 overs (Mandeep Singh 48; Kaushal Singh 3/26, Varun Aaron 2/20) lost to Jharkhand: 150/6 in 19.3 overs (Ishan Kishan 54, Kaushal Singh 29, Saurabh Tiwary 24) by four wickets.

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