Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy: Irfan powers Baroda, UP downs Mumbai

Irfan Pathan’s all-round show helps Baroda trounce MP by 53 runs; UP humble Mumbai and Bengal lose to Vidarbha

Skipper Irfan Pathan continued with his exemplary showing, scoring an unbeaten 27 and taking a four-wicket haul, to help Baroda thrash a hapless Madhya Pradesh by 53 runs in a Group C match of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy T20 tournament, in Vadodara, on Thursday.

Put in to bat, Baroda rode on Hardik Pandya's 48 and Irfan's stormy 12-ball stay at the wicket to post a challenging 181 for five in 20 overs.

The India discard then excelled with the ball to help pack off MP for 128 in 16.4 overs.

On the batting front, it was Irfan's late strike that provided the perfect finish to an innings that was built on a solid top-order effort.

Openers Kedar (31) and Mrunal Devdhar (33) gave the team a good 65-run start, while one-down Pandya hit four fours and two sixes in his 31-ball knock to add to MP's misery.

Left-arm spinner Ankit Sharma bagged two wickets.

Pace spearhead Irfan then rattled the MP top-order and never allowed their chase to take shape even as Harpreet Singh Bhatia (52) stood tall as the rest of the batting just fell apart.

Brief Scores:

Baroda 181-5 (Hardik Pandya 48; Ankit Sharma 2-34 vs Madhya Pradesh 128 in 16.4 overs (Harpreet Singh Bhatia 52; Irfan Pathan 4-34).

Umang fires UP to four-wicket win over Mumbai

Cuttack: Middle-order batsman Umang Sharma struck an unbeaten 47 to help Uttar Pradesh steal a tense four-wicket victory over big guns Mumbai in Group D.

Chasing 165 for victory at the Barabati Stadium, UP's top-order squandered away good starts only to see Umang stay on with a 32-ball blitz and help the side achieve the target with two balls to spare.

Openers Prashant Gupta (33) and Samarth Singh (16) provided a 40-run start, while later skipper Suresh Raina (20) and Akshdeep Nath (14) chipped in with useful contributions.

Mumbai pace spearhead Dhawal Kulkarni and Siddhesh Lad bagged two wickets each.

Earlier, put in to bat, Mumbai rode on Shreyas Iyer's 43-ball 78 to post 164 for six in 20 overs.

Ankit Rajpoot and Piyush Chawla claimed two wickets each.

Brief Scores:

Mumbai 164-6 (Shreyas Iyer 78; Ankit Rajpoot 2-27, Piyush Chawla 2-21) vs Uttar Pradesh 168-6 in 19.4 overs (Umang Sharma 47 not out, Prashant Gupta 33; Dhawal Kulkarni 2-31).

Bengal on verge of exit after losing to Vidarbha

Nagpur: Sedate batting by Bengal's openers led to their third defeat as hosts Vidarbha kept their quarter-final hopes alive with a four wicket victory a Group A league encounter.

While Vidarbha, with 12 points from four games, still have two games left, Bengal, with only 8 points from five games and a match left against Haryana, are almost out of contention.

Batting first, Bengal put up unimpressive 147 for five in 20 overs largely due to slow batting by opener Abhishek Das, who struggled while scoring 56, which consumed 52 balls.

Das and other opener, Sayan Sekhar Mondal (52 off 38 balls), added 98 for the opening wicket but it took them 13 overs in reaching that score.

The pressure that they put on the remaining batsmen showed as Bengal managed only 49 runs in the next seven overs losing five wickets in the process.

In reply, skipper Faiz Fazal (49) and Apoorv Wankhede (37) were the architects of the Vidarbha's victory, which was achieved with four balls to spare.

Brief Scores:

Bengal 147-5 (Abhishek Das 56; Akshay Karnewar 2-26) vs Vidarbha 151-6 in 19.2 overs (Faiz Fazal 49).

Himachal beat Haryana by two wickets

Nagpur: Himachal Pradesh defeated Haryana by two wickets in a low-scoring game.

They first limited Haryana to 122 for nine before attaining the target with four balls to spare.

Number nine and 10, Rahul Singh and Akshay Chauhan, scored an unbeaten 13 and 15 respectively to take Himachal home after they were struggling at 65 for 6 in the 14th over.

Robin Bist was Himachal's top scorer with 27 runs.

Brief Scores:

Haryana 122-9 (RM Dagar 39; B Sharma 3-20) vs Himachal Pradesh 123-8 in 19.2 overs (Robint Bist 27; A H Hooda 3-15).

Karn Sharma's fiver seals 49-run win for Railways

Vadodara: Captain Karn Sharma grabbed five wickets in a brilliant display of spin bowling as Railways thrashed Goa by 49 runs.

Leg-spinner Sharma, who had figures of 5 for 24 in his four overs, bamboozled the Goa batsmen who could score just 116 for nine in 20 overs while chasing 166.

Sharma was ably helped by pacer Ranjit Mali, who took four wickets for 24. The duo ripped apart Goa's batting with their incisive bowling.

For Goa, who lost their way from the start of their run chase, number eight batsman Rituraj Singh top-scored with a 29 not out while opener Sagun Kamat and Darshan Misal contributed 20 each.

Earlier, Railways posted 165 for 8 in their allotted 20 overs after being sent into bat.

Saurabh Wakaskar top-scored with a 33-ball 39 while Asad Pathan and Karn Sharma contributed 36 and 30 runs respectively.

Brief Scores:

Railways 165-8 (Saurabh Wakaskar 39; Saurabh Bandekar 4-25) vs Goa 116-9 (Rituraj Singh not out; Karn
Sharma 5-24).

Jharkhand humbles J&K by 76 runs

Kochi: Jammu and Kashmir's batting collapsed in the face of a disciplined performance by Jharkhand's bowlers, who guided the team to a resounding 76-run victory in their Group B match.

The decision to bowl after winning the toss backfired on J&K as Jharkhand posted a stiff 179 for 4 in their 20 overs.

J&K, despite an unbeaten 67 off 62 balls from opener Ian Dev Singh 67, could only manage only 103 for 7 in reply.

Shasheem Rathor and Saurabh Tiwary were the stand-out performers, notching up half-centuries for Jharkhand.

While Rathor scored 50 off 41 deliveries, Tiwary was the top run-getter with an unbeaten 57 off a mere 30 balls.

Brief Scores:

Jharkhand 179-4 (Shasheem Rathor 50, Saurabh Tiwary 57 not out, Rahil Sambyal 2-43) vs Jammu & Kashmir 103-7 (Ian Dev Singh 67, Sonu Singh 2-16).

Naik fires Maharashtra to victory

Cuttack: Nikhil Naik smashed 67 off 45 balls as Maharashtra beat Karnataka by 26 runs in a Group D match.

His blistering knock and a 20-ball 33 from Ankit Bawne propelled Maharashtra to 184 for 8 in 20 overs.

Opener Robin Uthappa (80 off 52) gave Karnataka more than a fighting chance in the chase but the team could only muster just 158 before being bowled out with nine balls to spare.

Barring skipper Vinay Kumar (23), none of the others were able to support Uthappa, who was the ninth batsmen to be dismissed.

Brief Scores:

Maharashtra 184-8 (Nitin Naik 67; Vinay Kumar 3-32) vs Karnataka 158 in 18.3 overs (Robin Uthappa 80, Anupam Sanklecha 3-23).