Ludhiana: Services ended Kerala's dream run in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy T20 tournament with a 12-run win in a Group C match at Mullanpur on Sunday.
Kerala lost wickets up front in their chase of 149 and were bowled out for 136 in the final over. Kerala lost their last six wickets for just 32 runs.
Vishnu Vinod (8), Rohan Kunnummal (11), Mohammed Azharuddeen (16) and Krishna Prasad (0) fell cheaply as Kerala slipped to 52/4 in the 10th over.
Though captain Sanju Samson and his deputy Sachin Baby added 52 for the fifth wicket, the dismissal of the two set batters dashed their hopes. Sachin made 36 off 35 balls, while Sanju scored 30 off 26 deliveries. Though Abdul Bazith tried his best with a 10-ball 19, Nitin Yadav held his nerve in the final over to deny Kerala.
Medium-pacer Yadav and left-arm spinner Arjun Sharma claimed three wickets apiece.
This was Kerala's first loss after three successive wins. They next meet Maharashtra on Tuesday (1.30 pm).
Earlier, Services made 148/8 after Sanju opted to bowl. Opener Aanshul Gupta top-scored for Services with a 35-ball 39. He added 50 for the first wicket along with Ravi Chauhan (22).
Off-spinner Vaisakh Chandran picked up 3/28 for Kerala.
Brief scores: Services 148/8 in 20 overs (Aanshul Gupta 39, Ravi Chauhan 22; Vaisakh Chandran 3/28, K M Asif 2/31) bt Kerala 136 in 19.4 overs (Sachin Baby 36, Sanju Samson 30; Nitin Yadav 3/12, Arjun Sharma 3/36).
Points: Services 4; Kerala 0.
