Bengal recorded their third straight victory in the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 Trophy, beating Mizoram by eight wickets in Rajkot on Wednesday.

Thanks to opener Abishek Porel (81 off 45 balls) and Karan Lal (67 off 40 balls), Bengal took only 15.3 overs to overhaul Mizoram’s 157/4.

Bengal are now at the top of Group A standings, but their bowling against a team not among the strongest wasn’t quite up to the mark. Mohammed Shami, in his fourth competitive game since return from injury, went for 46 in his four overs and was wicketless too.

Shami, it has been learnt, may play Bengal’s remaining group-phase matches too before his expected departure to Australia. The senior pacer was previously supposed to leave for Australia after Bengal’s first two games.

Fastest century

In Indore, Gujarat wicketkeeper-batter Urvil Patel (113 not out off 35 balls) slammed the fastest T20 century by an Indian during his team’s clash against Tripura on Wednesday, reaching the three-figure mark in just 28 balls.

The 26-year-old Urvil bettered Rishabh Pant’s record for the fastest T20 hundred by an Indian. The India keeper-batter had blazed away to a 32-ball century against Himachal Pradesh in the national T20 tournament backin 2018.

Urvil’s ton is the second-fastest in T20 cricket, only behind Estonia’s Sahil Chauhan, whose hundred against Cyprus came in 27 balls. Unsold in the recent IPL auction in Jeddah, Urvil struck seven fours and 12 sixes.

Summarised scores

In Rajkot: Mizoram 157/4 in 20 ovs. Bengal 158/0 in 15.3 ovs (Abishek Porel 81, Karan Lal 67). Bengal won by 8 wkts.

In Indore: Tripura 155/8 in 20 ovs (Sridam Paul 57; Arzan Nagwaswalla 3/35). Gujarat 156/2 in 10.2 ovs (Urvil Patel 113 n.o.). Gujarat won by 8 wickets.

Written with PTI inputs