Off-spinner Abdul Bazith's rear-guard action in his debut match in state colours helped Kerala defeat Haryana by three wickets in a Group C match of the Mushtaq Ali Trophy T20 tournament in Mohali on Friday. It was a dream debut for the youngster as he had taken a wicket with the first ball of the match at the IS Bindra Cricket Stadium.
With this win, Kerala have all three matches played. They had beaten Andhra and Karnataka in the first two matches.
Chasing a modest target of 132, Kerala were in a precarious 90/6 in 14.4 overs when Bazith joined Sijomon Joseph in the middle. But within two overs Sijomon was out and Kerala were tottering at 106/7.
Bazith was on five when Manu Krishnan joined him. They combined to resist Haryana bowlers, who might have smelled a fighting win, to script a memorable win.
Bazith hit a breezy 27 of 15 balls, with three fours and a six, to help his team romp home. Manu remained unbeaten on four.
Chasing a modest total of 132, Kerala began postively with the first wicket partnership of Vishn Vinod and Rohan Kunnummal adding 52 runs in 6.4 overs. But after Rohan was bowled by offie Jayant Yadav, Kerala lost wickets in steady interval. Sanju Samson, back in the leader role after his national stint, and stand-in-skipper Sachin Baby went cheaply.
Earlier, put into bat, Haryana had a horrendous start to the innings, losing the first wicket in the first ball. They kept losing wickets in regular intervals. They had slumped to 62/6 in 12.2 overs before Sumit Kumar and Jayant Yadav combined for a 62-run partnership in 44 balls to resurrect the innings.
Brief scores:
Hayana 131/7 in 20 overs (Jayant Yadav 39, Sumit Kumar 30, Pramod Chandila 24) lost to Kerala 132/7 in 19 overs (Abdul Bazith 27 not out, Vishnu Vinod 25, Rohan Kunnummal 25; Rahul Tewatia 3/18, Jayant Yadav 2/16).
Points: Kerala: 4. Haryana: 0.
