Mushtaq Ali T20: Irfan, Parthiv steal the limelight

Skipper Irfan Pathan led from the front with an unbeaten 49 and two wickets as Baroda thrashed a hapless Goa by 72 runs in a Group C match and maintained their unbeaten run in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy T20 tournament in Vadodara on Wednesday.

Put in to bat at the Moti Bagh Stadium, Baroda, who registered their third consecutive victory, posted a respectable 154 for two in 20 overs and then packed off Goa for a paltry 82 runs in 15.4 overs to bag four points.

Baroda’s top-order made it count, Irfan leading the way with a 29-ball blitz, which was laced by three fours and three sixes.

Opener Kedar Devdhar (39) and Hardik Pandya (38 not out) also made useful contributions.

The third-wicket unbeaten 83-run partnership between Irfan and Pandya is took the game away from Goa.

Left-arm spinner Darshan Misal bagged the two wickets to fall in the innings.

Chasing the challenging score, Deepraj Gaonkar (48) stood amidst the ruins Goa’s batting collapsed.

Reagan Pinto (11) was the only other batsman to get into double figures.

Pace spearhead Irfan, left-armer Rishi Arothe and medium-pacer Pandya bagged two wickets each.

Brief Scores:

Baroda 154-2 (Irfan Pathan 49 not out, Hardik Pandya 38 not out; Darshan Misal 2-25) vs Goa 82 in 15.4 overs (Deepraj Gaonkar 48; Irfan Pathan 2-19, Rishi Arothe 2-7, Hardik Pandya 2-14).

Parthiv, Jasprit shine as Gujarat whip Bengal

Skipper Parthiv Patel hit a quickfire 52 off 32 balls while speedster Jasprit Bumrah scalped three wickets as Gujarat comfortably beat Bengal by eight wickets in a Group A encounter in Nagpur.

Batting first, Bengal batting flopped for the second time in four matches, bundled out for 101 in 19.2 overs.

Debabrata Das and skipper Ashok Dinda contributed 22 each as none of the other batsmen could cross a personal score of 20.

Bumrah grabbed 3-16 in four overs while Rohit Dahiya, another medium pacer, also chipped in with three wickets for 14 runs.

In reply, Gujarat’s skipper blasted the Bengal attack, hitting nine boundaries and a six to finish of the match as the Vijay Hazare Trophy champions won in 11.5 overs.

Priyank Panchal and Manprit Juneja scored 24 and 23 respectively.

Brief Scores:

Bengal 101 in 19.1 overs (Debabrata Das 22, Ashok Dinda 22, Rohit Dahiya 3-14, Jasprit Bumrah 3-16) vs Gujarat 104-2 in 11.5 overs (Parthiv Patel 52).

Hyderabad beat Haryana for second victory

Hyderabad registered a comfortable 35-run victory over Haryana in Nagpur to register their second victory in Group A.

Opting to bat, the top four Hyderabad batsmen did well to help the side post a competitive 173 for eight in their allotted 20 overs.

The opening duo of Annabathula Akash (25) and Akshath Reddy (43) got Hyderabad off to a quick start, stitching 64 runs in 6.3 overs.

Later, skipper Hanuma Vihari, who top-scored with a 28-ball 44, and Tanmay Agarwal (20) made useful contributions with the bat to help Hyderabad post a competitive total.

Leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal (3-43) picked three wickets for Haryana, while Amit Mishra scalped (2-27) two.

In reply, Haryana lacked partnerships and finished with only 138 for seven.

Wicketkeeper-opener Nitin Saini (30) got off to a start before being run-out.

The other notable contributors for Haryana were Amit Mishra (28 not out), Rahul Dagar (21) and Mohit Hooda (20).

Batting at the middle of the order, Haryana captain Virender Sehwag (9) disappointed his fans.

Vihari (2-13) and Mohammed Siraj (2-23) picked two wickets each.

Brief Scores:

Hyderabad 173-8 (Hanuma Vihari 44; Yuzvendra Chahahl 3-43) vs Haryana 138-7 (Nitin Saini 30; Hanuma Vihari 2-13).

Vidarbha score easy win over TN

In another Group A match in Nagpur, wicketkeeper Jitesh Sharma and skipper Faiz Fazal put on a match-winning opening partnership to guide Vidarbha to a comfortable seven-wicket victory over Tamil Nadu.

Chasing 151 for a victory, Sharma (73 off 47) and Fazal (45 off 37) put on 87 runs for the opening stand to set the base for Vidarbha's victory.

Apoorv Wankhade (17 not out) and Himanshu Joshi (14) too contributed to get Vidarbha over the line with 154 for three in 18.3 overs.

Sharma, who fell just 16 runs short of the target, decorated his innings with nine boundaries and one six.

Left-arm spinner Rahil Shah (2-31) was the pick of the Tamil Nadu bowlers.

Earlier, electing to bat, Tamil Nadu did not have the best of starts and were reduced to 59 for three inside nine overs.

But Baba Aparajith (41), captain Rajagopal Satish (32) and J Kousik (23) took the southern side to a respectable score.

Ravikumar Thakur (2-22) and Ravi Jangid (2-32) were Tamil Nadu’s most successful bowlers.

Brief Scores:

Tamil Nadu 150-8 (Baba Aparajith 41; Ravikumar Thakur 2-22) vs Vidarbha 154-3 in 18.3 overs (Jitesh Sharma 73, Faiz Fazal 45; Rahul Shah 2-31).

Madhya Pradesh beat Railways for third win

Madhya Pradesh outplayed Railways by six wickets in another match in Vadodara.

Madhya Pradesh put Railways in to bat and dismissed them for 103, Ashwin Das (4-10) being the stand-out bowler.

The chase was comfortable as Jalaj Saxena scored an unbeaten 37 which guided them home in 16.2 overs with six wickets in hand.

Saxena's opening partner, Zafar Ali, scored 36.

Madhya Pradesh have three victories in four games while it was a third loss for Railways in four games.

Brief Scores:

Railways 103 (Saurabh Wakaskar 28; Ashwin Das 4-10) vs Madhya Pradesh 104-4 in 16.2 overs (Zafar Ali 36, Jalaj Saxena 37 not out; Karn Sharma 2-28).

Bhati, Shivam put Delhi on threshold of quarters

Delhi crushed Assam by eight wickets in another match in Vadodara, courtesy impressive performances by medium pacer Subodh Bhati and off-spinner Shivam Sharma, who shared seven wickets between themselves.

Delhi captain Gautam Gambhir's decision to bowl was vindicated by his bowlers as they decimated Assam for a paltry 44 in 12.1 overs.

Seamer Bhati, coming in as second change, snared 4-9 in three overs while former Kings XI Punjab player Shivam had figures of 3 for 7 in 3.1 overs. Pradeep Sangwan (2-21) provided the initial breakthroughs.

In reply, Delhi knocked off the runs in 9.1 overs despite another failure by India discard Gambhir (10).

His deputy, Unmukt Chand, hit an unbeaten 29 off 28 balls, which included a four and two huge sixes.

This was Delhi's fourth win in the tournament; they are almost certain to enter the quarter-finals  with 16 points in their kitty.

Brief Scores:

Assam 44 in 12.1 overs (Shib Sankar Roy 16, Subodh Bhati 4-9, Shivam Sharma 3-7) vs Delhi 50-2 in 9.1 overs (Unmukt Chand 29 not out).

Pargat’s unbeaten 60 steers Punjab home

Pargat Singh scored an unbeaten 60 in Punjab's seven-wicket win over Jharkhand in Kochi.

Punjab dismissed Jharkhand for 104 after winning the toss and chased down the modest target in 17.3 overs.

Opener Pargat Singh ensured his team reached home comfortably with other contributions coming from Gitansh Khera (22) and Harbhajan Singh (10).

It was Punjab's second win in three games.

Brief Scores:

Jharkhand 104-9 (Virat Singh 41; Siddharth Kaul 2-31) vs Punjab 105-3 in 17.3 overs (Pargat Singh 60 not out; Prakash Seet 2-31).

Kerala beat Saurashtra by 50 runs

Rohan Prem scored a fine fifty before the bowlers made their presence felt as Kerala trounced Saurashtra by 50 runs in another Group B match in Kochi.

Put in to bat at the St. Paul's College Ground, Kerala rode on Prem's quick fire 56 to post a challenging 165 for nine in 20 overs and then the bowlers joined forces to restrict Kerala to 115 for nine.

Kerala skipper Sachin Baby (43), who was involved in a 85-run third-wicket stand with Prem, and Reiphi Gomez (25 not out) also made useful contributions as the middle and the lower-order caved in against the Saurashtra medium-pacers.

Pace spearhead Jaydev Unadkat bagged three wickets, while Shaurya Sanandia and Chirag Jani picked up two wickets each.

Saurashtra’s innings suffered from lack of partnerships, only Jaydev Unadkat (32), Cheteshwar Pujara (26) and Chirag Jani (12) managing double-figure scores.

Kerala left-armer Unnikrishnan Manukrishnan and left-arm spinner Padmanabhan Prasanth picked up three wickets apiece to make life difficult for the Saurashtra batsmen. VA Jagadeesh also chipped in with two wickets.

Brief Scores:

Kerala 165-9 (Rohan Prem 56, Sachin Baby 43; Jaydev Unadkat 3-23) vs Saurashtra 115-9 (Jaydev Unadkat 32, Cheteshwar Pujara 26; Unnikrishnan Manukrishnan 3-11, Padmanabhan Prasanth 3-13).