Rajasthan beat UP; TN, Kerala post win in Mushtaq Ali Trophy

Thiruvananthapuram : Medium-pacer Deepak Chahar (3 for 46 and 13 not out) starred in Rajasthan's five-wicket win over Uttar Pradesh in a Group 'B' match of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy T20 cricket tournament here on Thursday.

The right-arm seam bowler, who has been in superb form of late, having bagged a hat-trick in the India versus Bangladesh T20 international on Sunday last and taking four wickets in an over in the previous match against Vidarbha, took three wickets in four balls to help restrict UP to 164 for 9 today.

Rajasthan rode on Rajesh K Bishnoi's unbeaten 87 to secure a five-wicket win in 17.2 overs.

Sent into bat by Rajasthan, the UP team's cause was helped by Rinku Singh's quickfire 50 from 29 balls (4 fours, 2 sixes), which helped it recover from a poor start.

Left-arm medium-pacer Khaleel Ahmed, who was also part of the India team which beat Bangladesh in the recent T20 series, rattled UP early with two wickets including that of Akshdeep Nath.

Deepak Chahar, bowling the 20th and final over, had Moshin Khan caught by CP Singh from the first ball.

After conceding a single from the next ball, he scalped Shanu Rajeshwar Prakash Saini off the 3rd ball and dismissed Shubham Sanjay Chaubey the next ball.

He finished with 3 for 46 while Khaleel had figures of 3 for 34. In the chase, Rajasthan lost Manendra Singh (5) early but Bishnoi who smashed 8 fours and 6 sixes in 43 balls, took charge and was involved in useful partnerships with Ankit Lamba (11) and skipper Mahipal Lomror (18) and took the team home.

In another game, Tamil Nadu made short work of minnows Manipur, winning by nine wickets.

Three-wicket hauls by left-arm pacer T Natarajan and leggie M Ashwin helped Tamil Nadu bundle out Manipur for 55 in 18.4 overs.

Murali Vijay hit three fours and three sixes in his 14-ball 33 before being run-out as Tamil Nadu reached the target in 4.1 overs.

Host Kerala posted a 26-run win over Vidarbha as skipper Robin Uthappa led the way with a blistering 69 (39 balls, 2 fours, 5 sixes).

Vidarbha leads the points table with 16 points (4 wins) despite the defeat with Tamil Nadu (12 pts) and Kerala (12 pts) in pursuit.

Brief scores: Kerala 162 for 7 in 20 overs (Robin Uthappa 69 not out (39 balls, 2X4, 5X6), Sachin Baby 39, Darshan Nalkande 3/34) beat Vidarbha 136 for 7 in 20 overs (Akshay Wadkar 29, AK Karnewar 28 not out, Sandeep Warrier 3/29).

Kerala: 4 points, Vidarbha: 0. Uttar Pradesh 164 for 9 in 20 overs (Rinku Singh 50, Saurabh Kumar 33, Khaleel Ahmed 3/34, Deepak Chahar 3/46) lost to Rajasthan 166 for 5 in 17.2 overs (Rajesh K Bishnoi 87 not out, Moshin Khan 2/28).

Rajasthan: 4 points, UP: 0. Manipur 55 all out in 18.4 overs (T Natarajan 3/7, M Ashwin 3/8) lost to Tamil Nadu 58 for 1 in 4.1 overs (M Vijay 33). TN: 4 points, Manipur: 0.