Out-of-favour India veteran Mohammed Shami continued his impressive show in domestic circuit with match-winning figures of 4 for 13 as Bengal cruised to a seven-wicket victory over Services in a Group C match of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, in Hyderabad, on Thursday.
This was Bengal's fourth win in five games and, with 16 points, Abhimanyu Easwaran's men now lead the points table and look good to make the cut for the knock-out stages.
Easwaran, who himself is appearing for IPL auction auditions, did his cause no harm with a 37-ball 58 in Bengal's walk-in-the-park chase of 166 which was completed in just 15.1 overs.
Delhi Capitals star Abhishek Porel (56 off 29 balls) also did his bit in a second-wicket stand of 93 in only 8.2 overs which set up the chase nicely.
But this was possible only because of 'Player of The Match' Shami (4/13 in 3.2 overs) and current India international Akash Deep (3/27), who kept Services down to a manageable 165 in 18.2 overs.
Shami got two wickets in his first spell, removing openers Gaurav Kocchar (0) and Ravi Chauhan (26 off 9 balls).
While comeback man Mukesh Kumar (0/53 in 3 overs) was hammered all around, off-spinner Writtick Chatterjee (2/32 in 4 overs) and Akash Deep got crucial middle-order wickets before Shami polished off the tail in his final spell.
Hardik takes 1/16 in Baroda's easy win over Gujarat
In another high-profile Group C game, Hardik Pandya, after a swashbuckling knock against Punjab in his comeback, bowled tightly to finish his four-over spell with 1 for 16 in Baroda's comfortable eight-wicket victory against Gujarat in a low-scoring game.
Gujarat were dismissed for just 73 in 14.1 overs with only two players reaching double digits. Hardik accounted for the CSK danger man Urvil Patel (7), who offered a return catch. Former India U-19 seamer Raj Limbani took 3 for 5.
Baroda knocked off the runs in just 6.4 overs although Hardik's returns with the willow was a mere 10 off 6 balls. The all-rounder will now fly off to Cuttack on December 6 to link up with the Indian T20I squad for the five-match series starting December 9.
Kamboj, Dalal win it for Haryana
Seamers Anshul Kamboj (3/44), Anuj Thakral (3/31) and batter Yashvardhan Dalal (76 not out off 44 balls) played major roles in Haryana's seven-wicket win over Himachal Pradesh in another group C game.
Batting first, HP scored 176 for 8 and Haryana surpassed the target in 18 overs. Dalal hit seven fours and four huge sixes.
Brief scores:
Services 165 all out in 18.2 overs (Mohit Ahlawat 38; Mohammed Shami 4/13, Akash Deep 3/27) lost to Bengal 167/3 in 15.1 overs (Abhishek Porel 56, Abhimanyu Easwaran 58) by 7 wickets.
Gujarat 73 all out in 14.1 overs (Hardik Pandya 1/16, Raj Limbani 3/5) lost to Baroda 74/2 in 6.2 overs (Shashwat Rawat 30, Ravi Bishnoi 2/26) by 8 wickets.
Himachal Pradesh 176/8 in 20 overs (Ekant Sen 44, Anshul Kamboj 3/44, Anuj Thakral 3/31) lost to Haryana 177/3 in 18 overs (Yashvardhan Dalal 76 not out., Vaibhav Arora 1/22) by 7 wickets.
Kerala stun defending champions Mumbai
A five-wicket haul by pacer KM Asif, who is having his best domestic season, helped underdogs Kerala earn a shock 15-run victory over defending champions Mumbai in a Group A match in Lucknow.
Mumbai, who suffered their first defeat in five games in the T20 tournament, though continue to lead the group with 16 points, while Kerala moved to third spot with 12 points -- the same as Andhra who are in second place -- following their third win in the five-team pool.
Kerala are marginally behind Andhra on net run-rate.
The star-studded Mumbai side, led by India pacer Shardu Thakur and having the likes of national T20 skipper Suryakumar Yadav and Shivam Dube in their ranks, crumbled to 163 all out in 19.4 overs while chasing 179.
Kerala made 178 for five.
It was India keeper-batter Sanju Samson, who recently completed the move from Rajasthan Royals to Chennai Super Kings ahead of the IPL 2026 season, who set the tone for Kerala by smashing a 28-ball 46 after opening the innings.
The Kerala skipper's blazing innings, studded with eight boundaries and a six, gave his team a flourishing start.
But two wickets in quick succession -- of Rohan Kunnummal (2) and Samson -- left the southern state struggling at 58 for 2 in the seventh over.
Samson took majority of the strike, giving his opening partner just five deliveries as the India top-order batter negotiated the star Mumbai bowlers early on.
Samson's dismissal slowed down the scoring rate as one-down batter Vishnu Vinod took 40 balls for his unbeaten 43, which included just three boundaries.
However, Vinod's 63-run stand with Mohammed Azharuddeen (32) and seaming all-rounder Sharafuddeen's cameo of 35 not out off 15 balls did give Kerala a fighting total in the end.
Mumbai were off to a confident start as, after losing Ayush Mhatre (3) early, Rahane (32 off 18 balls) and Sarfaraz Khan (52 off 40 balls) were involved in an 80-run stand for the second wicket.
At 99 for three in the 12th over, the defending champions looked comfortable. But the tables turned in the 18th over bowled by Asif (5/25), who grabbed the wickets of Sairaj Patil (13), Suryakumar (32) and Shardul (0), to send Mumbai reeling at 149 for seven.
He returned to bowl the final over to take out tail-enders Shams Mulani and Hardik Tamore to end Mumbai's innings.
Lucknow has turned out to be a happy hunting ground for the 32-year-old Asif as he now has 13 wickets in four SMAT matches at the venue this season.
Brief scores:
Kerala 178 for 5 in 20 overs (Sanju Samson 46, Vishnu Vinod 43; Shardul Thakur 1/34, Shivam Dube 1/18) beat Mumbai 163 in 19.4 overs (Sarfaraz Khan 52, Ajinkya Rahane 32, Suryakumar Yadav 32; KM Asif 5/24, Vignesh Puthur 2/31) by 15 runs.
Assam 175 for 7 in 20 overs (Abdul Kuraishi 57, Nihar Deka 52; Yash Thakur 3/36) beat Vidarbha 117 in 17.5 overs (Mukhtar Hussain 3/36, Akash Sengupta 3/12) by 58 runs.
Chhattisgarh 158 for 6 in 50 overs (Amandeep Khare 44, Shashank Singh 46; Prithvi Raj 2/35, KV Sasikanth 2/36) lost to Andhra 159 for 2 in 18.5 overs (Ashwin Hebbar 50, Shaik Rasheed 59 not out) by 8 wickets.
Bhuvneshwar, Rizvi shine in UP's win over Chandigarh
His days as one of India's leading seamers may be well past him but Bhuvneshwar Kumar continues to deliver handsomely in domestic cricket, evidence of which was his impressive outing in Uttar Pradesh's 40-run win over Chandigarh in a Group B encounter in Kolkata.
The 35-year-old seasoned bowler returned excellent figures of 3/23 in four overs to help his side restrict Chandigarh to 172 for eight after UP posted a competitive 212 for seven in their allotted 20 overs at the Eden Gardens.
Sameer Rizvi top-scored for UP with a blistering 70-run knock that came off just 42 balls and contained six fours and three sixes.
Opener Madhav Kaushik struck a brisk 67 off 41 balls, and found the fence seven times seven times while clearing it twice.
Rizvi and Kaushik were involved in a third wicket partnership of 86 runs, which laid the foundation for UP's total in excess of 200.
Siddarth Yadav looked in great touch until he was run out by Nehal Pajni for a quick-fire 12-ball 28 with three fours and two sixes.
After the dismissal of Rizvi and Kaushik, India's T20I specialist Rinku Singh blazed away to a 10-ball 24 to help prop up the UP innings after Chandigarh opted to bowl first.
Rajasthan Royals seamer Sandeep Sharma was the most successful bowler for Chandigarh, finishing with fine figures of 4/26, including taking the wickets of Kaushik and Rinku.
In reply, Chandigarh were off to a disastrous start as they lost two wickets with just 19 runs on the board, Bhuvneshwar removing Pajni for zero.
However, opener Manan Vohra kept Chandigarh in hunt with his explosive batting that fetched him 61 runs from only 35 balls, and which contained six boundaries and three sixes.
But Kartik Tyagi removed him at a crucial juncture to leave Chandigarh at 100 for three in the 11th over.
Wicketkeeper Nikhil Thakur (32 off 28 balls) and Amrit Lubana (30 off 23 balls) carried on the fight, but their team fell short by plenty of runs in the end.
Brief scores:
Uttar Pradesh 212/7 in 20 overs (Sameer Rizvi 70, Madhav Kaushik 67; Sandeep Sharma 4/26) beat Chandigarh 172/8 in 20 overs (Manan Vohra 61; Bhuvneshwar Kumar 3/23) by 40 runs.
Jammu and Kashmir 112 all out in 19.3 overs (Shubham Khajuria 35; Nitin Sai Yadav 3/17, Milind 3/31) lost to Hyderabad 115/6 in 15.1 overs (Tanay Thyagarajan 50; Murugan Ashwin 2/16, Yudhvir Singh Charak 2/18) by 4 wickets.
Bihar 180/7 in 20 overs (S Gani 60, Vaibhav Suryavanshi 46, Akash Raj 40; Deepraj Gaonkar 4/38) lost to Goa 184/5 in 19.5 overs (Suyash Prabhudessai 79, Kashyap Bakhale 64; Suraj Kashyap 3/24) by 5 wickets.
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