Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy: Five-Star Karn Sharma Guides Railways to Win vs Goa

Captain Karn Sharma grabbed five wickets in a brilliant display of spin bowling as Railways thrashed Goa by 49 runs in their Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy T20 cricket match here on Thursday. (Click here for latest Cricket stories)

Leg-spinner Sharma, who had figures of five for 24 in his four overs, bamboozled Goa batsmen who could score just 116 for nine in 20 overs while chasing 166 for a win at the Reliance Stadium here.

Sharma was ably helped by pacer Ranjit Mali who took four wickets for 24 and the duo ripped apart the Goa batting line-up with their decisive bowling display.

For Goa, number eight batsman Rituraj Singh top-scored with a 29 not out while opener Sagun Kamat and Darshan Misal contributed 20 each as Goa lost way from the very beginning of their run chase.

Earlier, Railways posted 165 for 8 in their allotted 20 overs after being sent into bat. Saurabh Wakaskar top-scored with a 33-ball 39 while Asad Pathan and Karn Sharma contributed 36 and 30, respectively.

For Railways, Saurabh Bandekar was the most successful bowler as he grabbed four wickets for 25 runs.

Brief Scores:

Railways: 165/8 in 20 overs (Saurabh Wakaskar 39; Saurabh Bandekar 4/25)

Goa: 116/9 in 20 overs (Rituraj Singh not out; Karn Sharma 5/24, Ranjit Mali 4/24).

Bengal Virtually Out of Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy

Sedate batting by Bengal openers led to their third defeat as hosts Vidarbha kept their quarter-final hopes alive with a four-wicket win a group A league encounter in Nagpur.

While Vidarbha with 12 points from 4 games still have two games left, Bengal with only 8 points from five games with a match left against Haryana are almost out of contention unless something miraculous happens and results fall in place.

Maharashtra down Karnataka

Nikhil Naik smashed 67 off 45 balls as Maharashtra beat Karnataka by 26 runs. Naik's blistering knock and a 20-ball 33 from Ankit Bawne pushed Maharashtra to 184/8 in 20 overs.

Opener Robin Uthappa (80 off 52) gave Karnataka more than a fighting chance in the chase but the team could only manage 158 before being bowled out with nine balls to spare.

Barring skipper Vinay Kumar (23), none of the the batsmen were able to support Uthappa, who was the ninth batsmen to be dismissed.