The first game of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Super League 2017-18 witnessed a Super Over as Punjab and Karnataka fought tooth and nail to get off to a winnings start. Punjab clinched the cliff-hanger in Kolkata. Rishabh Pant and Kulwant Khejroliya starred in Delhi’s win while Virat Singh’s 81 off 49 went in vain as Jharkhand lost to Mumbai. Baroda pull-off stunning win over Bengal. Group A Punjab vs Karnataka – Punjab pulled off a thrilling win in the super over after Karnataka levelled scores with in the first game of the Super League. Electing to field first, Punjab held Karnataka to 158 for seven. Manpreet Singh Grewal claimed Mayank Agarwal in the second over off the game off his first delivery and in his next accounted for Gowtham K to leave Karnataka on 25 for two. Baltej Singh followed up with the key wicket of Karun Nair to leave the side on 35 for three. Samarth R and CM Gautam then forged a partnership to stabilise the innings until Harbhajan Singh struck to end the stand for 64. The skipper claimed Samarth leaving Karnataka on 99 for four. In the next over, Baltej claimed Stuart Binny and Gautam to peg the side further back with a little over five overs left. Aniruddha then took Karnataka to a respectable total with a blistering 40 not out off 19 balls while Vinay Kumar slammed 15 off nine deliveries. Chasing a modest target, Manan Vohra was removed by M Prasidh leaving Punjab on 15 for one at the end of the second over. Mandeep Singh then shaped the chase with his captain, who came to the crease at No 3. The pair added 67 runs for the second wicket until Harbhajan (33 off 19) was sent back by Pravin Dubey leaving the side on 82 for two. Having taken the team past the three-figure mark with Yuvraj Singh, Mandeep returned to the pavilion for 45 (off 29) a few overs later. While Arvind Sreenath, accounted for the opener to leave the side on 109 for three, Gurkeerat Mann was run out later in the over. 19 runs later the stylish left-hander was also removed by the pacer leaving Punjab on 128 for five in 15.3 overs. Karnataka kept the match hanging in the balance by continuing to strike at regular intervals. While Sharad Lumba made a fighting 20 off 17 before being sent back by Dubey, Arvind Sreenath removed Abhishek Gupta and Grewal. And while Siddharth Kaul was run out, with three balls left in the innings, Sandeep Sharma (6* off 5) levelled scores with Baltej (0*) at the other end. Madeep (10* off 4) and Yuvraj (5* off 2) scored 15 runs off the Super Over by Gowtham, while Nair and Aniruddha scored 11 off Siddharth. Karnataka were 11/1 at the end of their Super Over. Scorecard - http://www.bcci.tv/syed-mushtaq-ali-trophy-2017-18/match/68 Jharkhand vs Mumbai – Mumbai registered a 13-run win against Jharkhand to open their account in the Group A points table. After setting the opponents a 171-run target, the Aditya Tare-led team held Jharkhand to 157 for seven in 20 overs. Put in to bat, Mumbai lost their top three batsmen - Akhil Herwadkar (3), Jay Bista (6) and Shreyas Iyer (9) for single digit scores. With the team wobbling on 35 for three in the sixth over, Siddhesh Lad (46 off 33) and Tare (45 off 30) stitched a 67-run stand to shape the innings. Atul Singh Kanwar claimed Lad to leave the side on 102 for four and in his next over claimed Tare. With Mumbai on 121 for five, Surya Kumar Yadav (33* off 15) joined Shivam Dube (20* off 18) in the middle and the pair took the team to 170 for five in an unbroken 49-run partnership. Defending the total, Sagar Trivedi claimed Ishan Kishan for naught to leave Jharkhand on 1/1. 23 runs later Akash Parkar dismissed Md Nazim Siddiqui. With Saurabh Tiwary, Virat Singh then took the team to 74 until Bista claimed the former. Virat Singh continued to hold one end up in an effort to keep the chase on course even as Mumbai continued to strike at regular intervals. While the top-order bat fought an uphill task, Kumar Deobrat was sent back by Parkar leaving the team on 119 for four while Dhawal Kulkarni removed Kaushal Singh five runs later. Virat Singh’s valiant knock came to an end in the last over, sent back by Dube leaving the team on 155 for six with two balls left in the innings. Off the next ball, Varun Aaron was run out by Akhil Herwadkar. Mumbai restricted Jharkhand on 157 for seven to seize victory. Scorecard - http://www.bcci.tv/syed-mushtaq-ali-trophy-2017-18/match/69 Group B Delhi vs Tamil Nadu – Delhi cantered to an eight-wicket win at the Eden Gardens in their opening game of the Super League stage. After Kulwant Khejroliya (4/26) helped restrict Tamil Nadu to 145 for seven, Rishabh Pant (58 off 33 balls) and Nitish Rana (34* off 14) helped chase down the target. Asked to bat MS Washington Sundar was sent back by Pradeep Sangwan to end the opening stand for 29 while Lalit Yadav followed up with the wicket of Ganga Sridhar Raju. A bit later Khejroliya accounted for K Bharath Shankar to leave the side on 37 for three. The only sizeable stand of the TN innings was then built by Baba Aparajith (45 off 32) and Vijay Shankar (57* off 48). The pair added 92 runs until Khejroliya sent back Aparajith leaving the side on 129 for four. While the pacer continuing from his form in the longest format claimed two more at the other end, Vijay Shankar helped his side 145 for seven. Chasing a modest target, Rishabh Pant set the tone with a blistering knock. After Sundar accounted for Gautam Gambhir to leave Delhi on 43 for one, the wicketkeeper-batsman continued to fire on all cylinders with Dhruv Shorey until Sundar sent him back. With the team on 107 for two, Rana joined Shorey in taking the team to victory. Scorecard - http://www.bcci.tv/syed-mushtaq-ali-trophy-2017-18/match/66 Bengal vs Baroda – After setting Bengal a 150-run target, Baroda bowled the opponents out for 132 to seal a stunning 17-run win at the Eden Gardens. Electing to bat first, Baroda posted a modest 149 for nine. With the Bengal bowlers creating breakthroughs at regular intervals and keeping the batsmen in check, Baroda accumulated the decent total courtesy useful contributions by the middle-order. The top-scorer for Baroda being Vishnu Solanki with 26 runs, Deepak Hooda chipped in with 22 while opener Kedar Devdhar made 21. And N Rathva down the order made 20 before being bowled by Manoj Tiwary. The Bengal skipper claimed two wickets while Sayan Gosh picked three Kanishk Seth took two wickets. Shreevats Goswami then led the chase with a fighting 58-run knock even as wickets fell at the other end. His opening partner was the first to return to the pavilion caught by L Meriwala off his own bowling leaving the side on 27 for one. The bowler trapped Sudip Chatterjee lbw off the next ball, however, missed out on a hat-trick. 26 runs later Tiwary too was sent back by Meriwala keeping the match precariously poised. Krunal Pandya then ran through the middle-order, accounting for Anustup Mujumdar, Writtick Chatterjee and K Seth leaving Bengal on 106 for six. Fighting an uphill task, Goswami was the next to return to the dressing room run out looking for a single with his partner not responding, thus leaving the side on 118 for seven with 24 balls left in the innings. Sniffing victory with the opener back in the hut, Baroda stepped up the pressure. While A Seth followed up with the wicket of Ashoke Dinda, S Tai claimed Parmod Chandila and Mukesh Kumar to wrap-up the match with a ball to spare. Scorecard - http://www.bcci.tv/syed-mushtaq-ali-trophy-2017-18/match/67