Kerala defeated Vidarbha by two wickets in a low-scoring Super League Group A cricket match of the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 tournament here today.
Chasing 106 for a win at the Wankhede Stadium, Kerala made heavy weather of their chase to finally get home in 18.4 overs. Though Kerala's aim was to achieve the target in the 16th over to keep up a healthy net run-rate in case of a tie on points to secure a final berth.
Opener N Surendran made 21 while Rohan Prem scored a run-a-ball 34 but the failure of big guns Sanju Samson and skipper Sachin Baby meant they had to depend upon the lower order to score the runs.
Kerala lifted themselves from 84 for 6 to achieve victory with Akshay Wakhare (3-26) troubling them enough.
Earlier, Vidarbha too struggled on the slow pitch and were shot out for 105 in 19.3 overs.
Barring opener Faiz Fazal (18), Ganesh Satish (14) and Urvesh Patel (28 in 25 balls, the others flopped totally.
Manu Krishnan and Niyaz Nazar were the chief wreckers with individual three-wicket hauls.
Brief scores: Vidarbha 105 in 19.3 overs (Faiz Fazal 18, Urvesh Patel 28; Manu Krishnan 3-29, Niyaz Nazar 3-14) lost to Kerala 109/8 in 18.4 overs (N Surendran 21, Rohan Prem 34; Akshay Wakhare 3-26).
Points: Kerala 4, Vidarbha 0.
