Saurashtra have kept themselves in the hunt for a place in the Super League with a win against Team Rajasthan in the league phase of Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 tournament. Captain Irfan Pathan led Baroda to victory with an all-round performance while the Harbhajan Singh-led Punjab registered a comprehensive win against
Pacers bowled Maharashtra to a thrilling win against Karnataka and claimed the second spot in the Group D points table even as Robin Uthappa fought a lone battle for Karnataka. The domestic giants are now fifth in the Group D table.
Group A
Haryana vs Himachal Pradesh: Haryana 122/9 in 20 overs (R Dagar 39, H Patel 26, B Sharma 3/20, A Chauhan 3/24) lost to HP 123/8 in 19.2 overs (R Bist 27, A Hooda 3/15, A Mishra 2/26) by 2 wickets
Himachal pulled off a two-wicket win in a low-scoring game against Haryana courtesy valuable contributions from the lower-order. Chasing 123 runs, they lost their middle-order to single-digit scores except for Robin Bist who made 27 off 24.
After being reduced to 65 for six, Bist received supported from P Jaswal. After A Hooda removed Bist in the 16th over, and A Mishra followed up with the wicket of Jaswal in the next, RK Singh and A Chauhan took the team home with a 28-run stand for the ninth wicket. Chauhan had earlier claimed three for 24 while B Sharma had taken three for 20 as they restricted Haryana to 122/9.
Group B
Punjab vs Tripura: Tripura 96/10 in 18 overs (SM Singha 23, S Ladda 3/30, G Singh 2/13, P Singh 2/13, Harbhajan Singh 2/17) lost to Punjab 100/2 in 15.3 overs (A Malhotra 40*, M Vohra 35*, MB Mura Singh 1/24) by 8 wickets
After Sarbjeet Ladda's double blow in the ninth over to reduce Tripura 44 for two, Punjab bowlers Gurinder Singh, Harbhajan Singh and Pargat Singh followed up with two wickets each to bundle Tripura out for 96 with 12 balls remaining in the innings.
Manan Vohra (35*) and A Malhotra (40*) then chased down the small total with ease.
Team Rajasthan vs Saurashtra: Saurashtra 140/5 in 20 overs (J Unadkat 39*, D Punia 30, CK Singh 3/13) beat Team Rajasthan 115/10 in 19.3 overs (CK Singh 36, S Sanandia 3/13, P Mankad 2/27) by 25 runs
Defending 140 runs, Saurashtra registered a convincing win thanks to Shaurya Sanandia’s tight spell. The pacer claimed Ankit Lamba in his first over and later took two wickets off two deliveries in the penultimate over. Jaydav Unadkat who had lifted the team to a respectable score with a 19-ball 39 earlier, took one wicket as did Chirag Jani while debutant Prerak Mankad claimed two for 27. The Rajasthan batting line-up was tottering at 29 for four with two run outs in the fifth over and were bowled out for 115 in the final over.
Group C
Baroda vs MP: Baroda 181/5 in 20 overs (H Pandya 48, M Devdhar 33, I Pathan 27*, A Sharma 2/34) beat MP 128/10 in 16.4 overs (HS Bhatia 52, I Pathan 4/34, S Tai 3/27, R Arothe 2/12) by 53 runs
Leading from the front, Baroda captain Irfan Pathan guided the team to a thumping win with an all-round performance. After an unbeaten 12-ball 27 to set MP a 182-run target, the left-arm pacer returned to take four for 34.
Asked to bat, the Baroda top-order got the team off to a decent start. Batting at No 3, Hardik Pandya scored 48 off 31 to set the stage for a formidable total. A late onslaught by Irfan and a useful 12-ball 15 by Yusuf Pathan tilted the game in Baroda's favour. The pace attack led by the captain then shared seven wickets amongst them with Rishi Arothe picking two for 12 while Munaf Patel chipping in with one. Spinner Soaeb Tai claimed three for 27 to bowl MP out for 128 with 20 balls to spare.
Group D
Maharashtra vs Karnataka: Maharashtra 184/8 in 20 overs (NS Naik 67, P Bhati 39, V Kumar 3/32, A Mithun 2/30) beat Karnataka 158/10 (R Uthappa 80, A Sanklecha 3/23, DJ Muthuswamy 2/30, R Tripathi 2/31) by 26 runs.
Asked to bat, Maharashtra piled on 184 for eight to set Karnataka a tough total. Nikhil Naik starred for Maharashtra with 67 runs of 45 balls after being reduced to 16/2 at one stage. The middle-order ensured the team got to a decent total even as Vinay Kumar claimed three wickets while Abhimanyu Mithun picked two in an effort to curb the runs.
Maharashtra's pace attack then bowled the team to a 26-run victory. While Robin Uthappa scored a whirlwind 80 off 52 balls, the rest of the Karnataka line-up caved in to the Anupam Sanklecha-led attack. The pacer claimed three wickets while his new-ball partner DJ Muthuswamy picked two and so did Rahul Tripathi. Shrikant Mundhe too picked up a wicket while spinner S Gugale chipped in with a wicket to bowl Karnataka out with nine balls to spare.
Follow the stars:
Naman Ojha scored five runs in MP’s 182-run chase against Baroda.
Yusuf Pathan scored 12 runs was wicketless in the match against MP.
MP pacer Ishwar Pandey claimed one wicket for 39 runs against Baroda.
Cheteshwar Pujara scored two runs in the match against Team Rajasthan.
Rajat Bhatia was bowled for eight in Rajasthan’s match against Saurashtra.
Kedar Jadhav made 14 runs off 10 balls after Maharashtra were asked to bat by Karnataka.
