SMAT: Karnataka beat Bengal by 19 runs despite Sudip Gharami, Shahbaz Ahmed fifties
toi
newspoint|15-11-2026
Both the Bengal bowlers and batters failed miserably to go down against Karnataka by 19 runs in their opening Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 Elite Group ‘A’ match at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Saturday.
The Karnataka batters had little problem negotiating with some ordinary Bengal bowlers as they piled up 184 runs in 20 overs after Abhimanyu Easwaran won the toss and put the opposition in.
The Karnataka batters took former India pacer Mohammed Shami to the cleaners getting 56 runs from his four overs, while Mukesh Kumar, on his return from India ‘A’ side assignment at New Zealand, gave away 45 runs.
Karnataka openers Luvnith Sisodia and Manish Pandey gave the side a flying start getting 47 runs in just 23 balls. After Sayan Ghosh trapped Sisodia in the front, new-commer Karun Nair started playing the shots early. His 34-ball 55 included three consecutive boundaries off Mukesh’s second over as Karnataka reached 100 runs in 10 overs. The departure of Abhinav Manohar and Manvanth Kumar in consecutive overs did put the brakes on and as Karnataka lost more wickets in the slog overs, Bengal managed to keep them under 200 runs which at one stage looked possible.
The Bengal chase never got off as they lost opener Abishek Porel and Easwaran in the very first over. By the time Bengal reached 50 runs losing four wickets, they had already played out four overs of dot balls which pushed the required run rate almost out of their reach.
Vice-captain Sudip Gharami and all-rounder Shahbaz Ahmed, playing his last match before departing for Rising Stars Asia Cup series, tried to restore things by being involved in a 96-run fifth-wicket stand, but once Gharami departed for 65, wickets started falling at regular intervals with the batters perishing trying to go for big shots.
Brief scores: Karnataka: 184 in 20 ovs (Karun Nair 53; Sayan Ghosh 4/28) Bengal: 165/9 in 20 ovs (Sudip Gharami 65, Shahbaz Ahmed 56; Abhilash Shetty 4/26) Karnataka won by 19 runs.
Brief scores: Karnataka: 184 in 20 ovs (Karun Nair 53; Sayan Ghosh 4/28) Bengal: 165/9 in 20 ovs (Sudip Gharami 65, Shahbaz Ahmed 56; Abhilash Shetty 4/26) Karnataka won by 19 runs.
The Karnataka batters had little problem negotiating with some ordinary Bengal bowlers as they piled up 184 runs in 20 overs after Abhimanyu Easwaran won the toss and put the opposition in.
The Karnataka batters took former India pacer Mohammed Shami to the cleaners getting 56 runs from his four overs, while Mukesh Kumar, on his return from India ‘A’ side assignment at New Zealand, gave away 45 runs.
Karnataka openers Luvnith Sisodia and Manish Pandey gave the side a flying start getting 47 runs in just 23 balls. After Sayan Ghosh trapped Sisodia in the front, new-commer Karun Nair started playing the shots early. His 34-ball 55 included three consecutive boundaries off Mukesh’s second over as Karnataka reached 100 runs in 10 overs. The departure of Abhinav Manohar and Manvanth Kumar in consecutive overs did put the brakes on and as Karnataka lost more wickets in the slog overs, Bengal managed to keep them under 200 runs which at one stage looked possible.
The Bengal chase never got off as they lost opener Abishek Porel and Easwaran in the very first over. By the time Bengal reached 50 runs losing four wickets, they had already played out four overs of dot balls which pushed the required run rate almost out of their reach.
Vice-captain Sudip Gharami and all-rounder Shahbaz Ahmed, playing his last match before departing for Rising Stars Asia Cup series, tried to restore things by being involved in a 96-run fifth-wicket stand, but once Gharami departed for 65, wickets started falling at regular intervals with the batters perishing trying to go for big shots.
Brief scores: Karnataka: 184 in 20 ovs (Karun Nair 53; Sayan Ghosh 4/28) Bengal: 165/9 in 20 ovs (Sudip Gharami 65, Shahbaz Ahmed 56; Abhilash Shetty 4/26) Karnataka won by 19 runs.
Brief scores: Karnataka: 184 in 20 ovs (Karun Nair 53; Sayan Ghosh 4/28) Bengal: 165/9 in 20 ovs (Sudip Gharami 65, Shahbaz Ahmed 56; Abhilash Shetty 4/26) Karnataka won by 19 runs.
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