Punjab, Baroda, Delhi, and Assam enter the Semifinals of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2023 with Comfortable Victories

Punjab defeated Uttar Pradesh by five wickets despite Rinku Singh's brilliance with the bat to enter the semifinals of the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 tournament on Thursday. Batting first, Rinku Singh smashed 77 off just 33 balls to take Uttar Pradesh to 169 for 3 in 20 overs. He added 116 runs for the fourth wicket in just 8.5 overs with Sameer Rizvi (42 off 29 balls). UP couldn't pile up a huge score due to poor show from skipper Karan Sharma (14 off 24 balls), who wasted a lot of deliveries in the powerplay.

In reply, in-form Abhishek Sharma (12), Prabhsimran Singh (0), and skipper Mandeep Singh (1) threw away their wickets cheaply leaving Punjab hanging at 14 for 3 inside the first four overs.

But Anmolpreet Singh (43 off 29 balls) and Nehal Wadhera (52 off 39 balls) constructed an important partnership by adding 72 runs in 9.2 overs before Sanvir Singh (35 off 13 balls) and Ramandeep Singh (22 off 13 balls) finished hitting 59 in just 4.2 overs with five balls to spare. Left-arm seamer Yash Dayal was slaughtered by the Punjab batters, and ended up leaking 53 off 4 overs.

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Meanwhile in the other Quarter-Final match, Mumbai's dangerous batting line-up couldn't hold on strongly as Baroda cruised to a three-wicket victory with more than an over to spare.

Batting first, Yashasvi Jaiswal (8) and Ajinkya Rahane (13 off 11 balls) got off to another poor start as Mumbai managed to score 148/8 in 20 overs. In reply, Baroda stuttered a bit at first but Vishnu Solanki (49 not out off 30 balls) led the chase despite not having too many people around him to support.

In the third Quarter-Final match, Anuj Rawat's fiery half-century and a collective performance by the bowling unit ensured a comfortable 39-run win for Delhi against Vidarbha. Umesh Yadav picked up four wickets for the losing side.

Batting first, Delhi scored 176 for 6 after Rawat scored 68 off 53 balls with five fours and three sixes and laid the foundation of a decent score with a 105-run second wicket stand with skipper Yash Dhull (43 off 29 balls).

In reply, Vidarbha lost half their batters for 75 runs by 11th over and could only manage to score 137 after loosing 9 wickets.

Pradeep Sangwan (1/13 in 2 overs), Navdeep Saini (1/33 in 3 overs) and Mayank Yadav (2/25 in 4 overs) got crucial wickets while off-spinner Lalit Yadav (2/16 in 4 overs) and leg-spinner Suyash Sharma (1/25 in 4 overs) were brilliant during middle overs and led the bowling attack.

Assam, led by Riyan Parag, beat Kerala by six wickets in the last quarter-final of the day. Batting first, Kerala scored 158 for 6, with the help of half-centuries from Salman Nizar (57 off 44 balls) and Abdul Basith (54 off 42 balls). Sanju Samson (0) didn't cause any trouble to the opposition bowlers and failed to help his side pile up a good total. In reply, Assam chased down the target in 17.1 overs with Sumit Ghadigaonkar scoring 75 off 50 balls.