Left-arm pacer Lukman Meriwala's fifer was the cornerstone of Baroda's thumping nine-wicket win over Chhattisgarh in an Elite Group C match of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy T20 tournament, in Vadodara, on Thursday.
Put in to bat at the F B Colony ground, Chhattisgarh were bundled out for just 90 runs as the Baroda bowlers, led by Meriwala (5/8), wreaked havoc on the visiting batsmen.
Meriwala was ably supported by off-spinner Kartik Kakade (2/17) and left-arm spinners Krunal Pandya (1/20) and Ninad Rathwa (1/16) as they never allowed the opposition batsmen to settle down.
For Chhattisgarh, opener and wicket-keeper Shashank Chandrakar top-scored with a 20, as the rest of his batting colleagues fell cheaply. They lost half their side for 54 and their innings never really got going.
The chase was a walk in the park for Baroda, despite losing opener Ninad Rathwa (0) early.
Experienced Kedar Devdhar (44 not out; 7x4) and one-down Vishnu Solanki (42 not out; 5x4, 1x6) forged an unbeaten 86-run second wicket stand as they tore into a listless Chhattisgarh attack and took their side home in just 12.3 overs.
This was Baroda's third win in the league stage, having earlier defeated Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand in the first two games.
Brief Scores: At F B Colony Ground: Chhattisgarh 90 all out (Shashank Chandrakar 20; L Meriwala 5/8, Kartik Kakade 2/17) lost to Baroda 91/1 (Kedar Devdhar 44 not out, Vishnu Solanki 42 not out; Sourabh Majumdar 1/12) by nine wickets.
At Motibaug ground: Himachal Pradesh 141/5 (Rishi Dhawan 43, Digvijay Rangi 35 not out; Axar Patel 1/16) beat Gujarat 115 all out (Piyush Chawla 39; Vaibhav Arora 3/16, Pankaj Jaiswal 2/19) by 26 runs.
At Reliance ground: Maharashtra 141/4 (Kedar Jadhav 61, Azmi Kazi 31 not out; Dikshanshu Negi 1/18) lost to Uttarakhand 145/4 (Jay Bista 69 not out, Dikshanshu Negi 23; Divyang Himganekar 1/11) by six wickets.
Virat's unbeaten ton fires Jharkhand to win over Assam
Jharkhand registered its first victory of Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy on the back of Virat Singh's unbeaten century here at Jadavpur University second campus ground.
Jharkhand defeated Assam by 51 runs in a one-sided affair despite losing the opening batsman in the first over.
Electing to bat first, Jharkhand rode on Virat's 103 not out off 53 balls along with Saurabh Tiwary's 57 to score a mammoth 233/3 while Assam also fought back with Riyan Parag's 38-ball 67 but at the end were restricted to 182/7. Batting first, Jharkhand suffered an early jolt as they lost opener Anand Singh on the second ball of the match. Virat then stitched 81 and a 114-run partnership with skipper Ishan (24) and Saurabh to put on a massive total on board.
Virat smashed 12 boundaries and 3 sixes en route to his hundred while Kumar Deobrat played a quickfire 12-ball 31.
While chasing Assam also lost their opener Rishav Das early while Pallavkumar Das (46) and Riyan fought hard to try and pull off a shocker but couldn't succeed in front of a disciplined Jharkhand bowling attack. Monu Kumar bagged 3 wickets for the winning side.
Meanwhile, Bengal is unbeaten in the showpiece event and will look to win their third encounter when they lock horns with Hyderabad in their third match of the tournament later on Thursday.
Bengal had got the better of Jharkhand on Tuesday when a classy maiden unbeaten century from Vivek Singh in the shortest format ensured full points for his side at the Eden Gardens.
Batting first Bengal made 161 for six. Needing 162 to win, Jharkhand finished at 145 for 9 giving Bengal a 16-run victory.
In another run-fest on Thursday, Punjab batsman Abhishek Sharma slammed a ton, while Royal Challengers Bangalore star opener Devdutt Padikkal scored an unbeaten 99 in their respective matches at the ongoing Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy.
Abhishek scored 107 from 62 balls, helping his side post a gigantic 200/4 in 20 overs in their clash against Railways. Batting at a strike-rate of 172.58, the left-handed batsman smashed five boundaries and nine maximums during the course of his innings.
In response to Punjab's 200, Dinesh Mor-led Railways could only manage 83 and lost the match by 117 runs.
In an enthralling contest between Karnataka and Tripura, Padikkal played an unbeaten knock of 99 and helped his side post a challenging 167/5 on the board. His innings included nine boundaries and four sixes.
