Mumbai, Mar 25: Punjab beat MPCA by a comfortable seven wickets in the fourth quarter-final to seal a spot against Mumbai in the second semi-final at the Bandra Kurla Complex on March 26.
Losing the toss and being asked to bowl worked in favour of Punjab as they had MP struggling on 16 for six in the sixth over. VRV Singh set the ball rolling claiming two wickets off the first two balls but missed out on a hat-trick. He got Jaffer Ali’s middle-stump off the first ball and then had Jalaj Saxena caught at gully by Mandeep Singh. In the second over, Gony struck a double blow to leave MP reeling at four for the loss of four wickets while MP captain and opener Mohnish Mishra watched the downfall from the non-striker’s end. The tall paceman dismissed Harpreet Singh on the second delivery while Udit Birla edged him to the wicketkeeper on the fifth ball off the over.
The skipper was next to walk back in the fifth after scoring ten runs. Mishra, who had hit two fours in his nine-ball stay at the crease, was caught by wicketkeeper Chandan Madan to give VRV Singh his third scalp. Murtuza Ali became Gony’s third wicket, in the next over, after nicking the bowler to the keeper.
Ankit Sharma then joined Rameez Khan (45 off 48, 4x4, 1x6) and the duo revived the MP innings with a 74-run partnership before Khan was removed by Harbhajan Singh. In the same over, the Punjab skipper also sent back Amarjeet Singh who had replaced Khan. In the next over, which was the most expensive of the innings, Rahul Sharma was plundered for 16 runs by Sharma and T Sudhindra. However, VRV ended Sharma’s valiant effort for 41 in the last over to finish with a four-for. Sudhindra remained unbeaten on 13 as MP reached a modest 120 for nine in their 20 overs. With four ducks in the innings and two single-digit scores, MP did well to post the score they did in the end.
Chasing 121, opener Sarul Kanwar departed for 17 after a 27-run opening partnership with Ishan Malhotra. Ishan followed him back in the next over thanks to a diving catch by Anand Rajan behind the non-striker, running from mid-on. Coming together with the score on 29 for two, Gurukirat Mann and Mandeep Singh added 54 off 42 balls until Mandeep departed, caught by Mishra at short mid-wicket off Sudhindra on 28. Meanwhile, Mann continued to send the ball racing to the ropes all over the ground; his knock included a couple of well-timed cover drives and sweep shots. Dropped on 38 by Anand Rajan at fine-leg while attempting to hook Amarjeet, Mann remained unbeaten on 57 while Chandan Madan, who hit the winning runs, remained not out on eight.
Brief scores: MPCA 120/9 in 20 overs (R Khan 45, A Sharma 41, M Gony 3/5, VRV Singh 4/24, H Singh 2/23) lost to Punjab 123/3 in 18 overs (G Mann, M Singh 28, T Sudhindra 2/18) by 7 wickets.
