Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy: Jharkhand, Kerala start on winning note

Vijayawada, Feb 21 (CRICKETNMORE):  On the first day of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, an all-round effort helped Jharkhand edge past Delhi by three runs in a group A match here on Thursday.

Chasing 155/5, Virat Singh (70) played sensibly while opener Anand Singh (37) and Ishank Jaggi (24) contributed to hand their team a victory.

Although, Jharkhand started the run chase on a poor note but Virat and the middle-order batsmen rose to the occasion, helping their team cross the line.

For Delhi, Dhruv Shorey (70) was the highest scorer while Unmukt Chand scored 33 runs.

In another group A match, Kerala thrashed Manipur by 83 runs. Kerala posted a challenging 186/5 in their 20 overs and then restricted Manipur to 103/7.

Sachin Baby (75)and Mohammed Azharuddeen (47) were the highest scorers for Kerala.

In the third group A match, Jammu and Kashmir overpowered Nagaland by nine wickets.

K.B. Pawan (53) and Rongsen Jonathan's (31) innings helped Nagaland post 136/6 but the bowlers failed to deliver as Jammu and Kashmir overhauled the target in 15.5 overs. 

Openers Abdul Samad (76) and Jatin Wadhwan (62) were the highest scorers for Jammu and Kashmir.

In group B matches, Rajasthan thrashed Tamil Nadu by 53 runs while Gujarat edged past Meghalaya by 13 runs. Vidarbha also defeated Himachal Pradesh by three wickets.

In group C matches, Madhya Pradesh defeated Punjab by 34 runs at the Holkar cricket stadium in Indore while Mumbai thrashed Sikkim by 154 runs.

On the other hand, Saurashtra suffered a 5-wicket loss to Railways.

In Group D contests, Karnataka won by 15 runs against Assam, Chhattisgarh registered a convincing 10-wicket victory over hosts Odisha, Bengal hammered Mizoram by a mammoth 159 runs while Haryana also registered a convincing 8-wicket victory over Arunachal Pradesh.

Coming to Group E, Puducherry pipped Hyderabad by 3 runs, Maharashtra registered a narrow 12 run win over Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand won by 3 wickets against Services and Baroda outsmarted Tripura by 8 wickets in the last match of the day.