Sanju Samson’s Kerala pay the price of squandering good start against Vidarbha

Vidarbha made Kerala pay the price of squandering a solid start by securing a 6-wicket win in their Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy T20 match in Lucknow on Tuesday.

Sanju Samson-led Kerala might wish they had more than 164 as a total to defend as Vidarbha chased it down with nine balls to spare. Kerala were guilty of throwing away the match in the first innings when they slumped from 100/2 in 10.2 overs to 164 all out in 19.2 overs.

Kerala had failed to build on a great foundation laid by Vishnu Vinod (65 off 38) and Rohan S Kunnummal (58 off 35) after Sanju's early dismissal (1). Kerala added just 16 runs in the last five overs after Vishnu and Rohan stitched a 77-run stand for the third wicket, hitting 10 sixes and five boundaries between them.

Yash Thakur was the beneficiary by bagging a fifer (3/16). The pacer exploited the lack of pace in the conditions by taunting the Kerala batters into swinging at short and wide deliveries. Four Kerala batters - Rohan, Abdul Bazith, Sharafuddeen N M and Saly Samson - were caught chasing such deliveries.

Vidarbha were going smoothly in their reply at 112/2 in 11.5 overs, with Atharva Taide and Dhruv Shorey in charge. The dismissals of Shorey (22) and Taide (54) in successive deliveries tightened the equation.

Vidarbha needed 19 off 18, but Shivam Deshmukh hit two sixes off Vignesh Puthur to take the game away from Kerala, who have lost two and won two so far in the tournament. Kerala's next match is against the favourites Mumbai on December 4.

Brief scores: Kerala 164 in 19.2 overs (Vishnu Vinod 65, Rohan S Kunnummal 58, Yash Thakur 5/16, Daga 3/22, Bhute 2/18) lost to Vidarbha 165/4 in 18.3 overs (Atharva Taide 54, Shivam D 29 not out)