It was a day to remember for young fast bowler Ishan Porel as cricket returned to Indian shores for the first time in months. Playing for Bengal in the 2021 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, the 22-year-old picked up four wickets against a hapless Odisha batting lineup, helping his side to a convincing victory on opening day. Ishan Porel ended with figures of 4/26 in that game- his best ever in T20 cricket.

Playing for the first time since his hamstring injury which forced him to return prematurely from Australia, the young pacer took little time to find his mark, as he accounted for the wicket of Odisha opener Aditya Rout in just his second over. He bowled well in tandem with Shahbaz Ahmed, as Bengal proved to be utterly dominant in the early part of play, leaving the batting side at 30/5 after five overs.

Porel, who represents Kings XI Punjab in the Dream11 Indian Premier League, returned for a second spell later in the innings, and cleaned out the Odisha tail. Bowling the last over of the innings, the 22-year-old picked up the wickets of Suryakant Pradhan, Rajesh Mohanty and Sunil Roul. The latter of the trio was beaten all ends up by the searing pace of Porel only to have his stumps rattled.

Bengal made light work of that chase, as Vivek Singh and Shreevats Goswami scored at a brisk rate, reaching the target by the 13th over to give their side all four points on opening day of the 2021 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy.

Suchith stars for Karnataka

Karnataka also made a winning start to the 2021 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, brushing aside Jammu and Kashmir in their opening game. Batting first, they put up a target of 151, with Krishnan Shrijith top scoring, supported ably by captain Karun Nair who got a stylish 27.

With ball in hand, it was another Kings XI Punjab player who dented the chase for Jammu and Kashmir. Jagadeesha Suchith picked up 2/17 in his four overs, breaking the back of that middle order and stifling the run flow in those middle overs. Suchith accounted for the wickets of Shubham Khajuria and captain Parveez Rasool, the former courtesy of a sharp caught and bowled.

Karnataka ultimately won the match by a resounding 43 runs, making an ideal start to the 2020 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy.