Krunal Pandya's all-round show helped Baroda beat Uttarakhand by five runs in their opening game of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, in Vadodara, on Sunday.
Put into bat in a Group C game, hosts Baroda first rode on Pandya's blazing 76 to post a competitive 168/7 on the board before the bowlers held their nerves to restrict Uttarakhand to 163/6 despite a fighting 77 by Dikshanshu Negi.
Krunal, who is Baroda's captain, also contributed with the ball handsomely to return with figures of 2/33.
While batting, the left-handed Krunal took the Uttarakhand bowlers to cleaners, hammering five fours and as many sixes.
He along with Smit Patel conjured a crucial 89 run stand for the fourth wicket and rescued the team after they were reeling at 41/3 at one stage.
For Uttarakhand, right-handed batsman Negi hammered nine boundaries and six in his 57-ball 77 run knock, while Kunal Chandela, who came in at number seven, stuck a 26-ball 48 but the two could not take their side home.
Brief Scores: At Reliance Ground: Baroda 168/7 (Krunal Pandya 76, S Patel 41; A Madhwal 3/16) won against Uttarakhand 163/6 (D Negi 77 not out; Kunal Chandela 48; Krunal Pandya 2/33) by five runs.
At Motibaug Ground: Gujarat 157/8 (Axar Patel 30, Ripal Patel 29; M Choudhary 3/33) won against Maharashtra 128 all out (Naushad Shaikh 31; Ruturaj Gaikwad 26; Arzan Nagwasalla 6/19) by 29 runs.
At F B Colony Ground: Himachal Pradesh 173/5 (R Thakur 53, E C Sen 38 not out; Vishal Singh 3/18) won against Chhattisgarh 141/8 (Amandeep Khare 87 not out; Rishi Dhawan 3/29, Vaibhav Arora 2/24) by 32 runs.
Raina's half century, Bhuvi's three wickets go in vain as UP lose to Punjab
Suresh Raina's half-century and a three-wicket effort from Bhuvneshwar Kumar went in vain as Punjab defended a modest 134 against Uttar Pradesh in their opening match of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, in Alur, Karnataka.
Punjab posted 134 for seven in a Group A game with opener and wicketkeeper Simran Singh scoring 43 off 41 balls. Anmolpreet Singh (35 off 27) was another batsman who made a valuable contribution.
Bhuvneshwar, who had to pull out of the IPL with a thigh muscle injury, was impressive in his comeback game, returning with figures of three for 22 in four overs.
However, UP fell short of the target and ended at 123 for five in 20 overs to lose by 11 runs.
Raina, playing his first competitive game in over 18 months, made an unbeaten 56 off 40 balls but it wasn't enough to take his team over the line.
The southpaw, who announced his retirement alongside M S Dhoni on August 15 last year, had pulled out of the IPL due to personal reasons after travelling to Dubai with the rest of the CSK squad.
Brief Scores: Punjab 134/7 in 20 overs (Simran Singh 43; Bhuvneshwar Kumar 3/22, Ankit Rajpoot 2/28). UP: 123/5 in 20 overs (Suresh Raina 56 not out; Siddarth Kaul 2/28). Punjab won by 11 runs.
Other brief scores: Karnataka 150/5 in 20 overs (KL Shrijith 48 not out; Parvez Rasool 2/18). J&K 107 all out 18.4 overs (Abdul Samad 30; Abhimanyu Mithun 2/24, J Suchith 2/17, K Gowtham 2/13). Karnataka won by 43 runs.
Tripura 170/3 in 20 overs (Milind Kumar 61; Karn Sharma 1/23). Railways 173/4 in 19.3 overs (Mrunal Devdhar 61 not out; Sankar Paul 3/17). Railways won by six wickets. PTI BS
Bengal romp to nine-wicket win over Odisha, TN trounce Jharkhand
Host Bengal began their campaign in the Syed Mushthaq Ali Trophy T20 tournament with a thumping nine-wicket win against Odisha in an Elite Group 'B' match, in Kolkata.
In another match in the group, Tamil Nadu posted a crushing 66-run win over Jharkhand, courtesy opener C Hari Nishanth's unbeaten 92-run knock and an all-round effort by the bowlers. Debutant medium-pacer R Sonu Yadav picked up three for 31 to star in the winning start.
In the Bengal-Odisha match, the host team's skipper Anustup Majumadar won the toss and sent the opponents in to bat. The Odisha batsmen found the going tough in the face of some good bowling by the highly-rated Ishan Porel (3/26) and Akash Deep (2/20).
Odisha lost opener Shantanu Mishra (6) early as he was run out by Suvankar Bal. The innings did not get the momentum as wickets fell at regular intervals. From a perilous 30 for five, they recovered following a 65-run sixth wicket partnership between Rajesh Dhupar (37) and Ankit Yadav (32) before they capitulated to 113 all out in 20 overs.
Opener Vivek Singh hammered an unbeaten 35-ball 54 (6 fours, 2 sixes) to help Bengal romp home in 12.2 overs with a 76-run second wicket partnership with Suvankar Bal (34 not out).
Brief Scores: Odisha 113 all out in 20 overs (Rajesh Dhupar 37, Ankit Yadav 32, Ishan Porel 3/26) lost to Bengal (114 for 1 in 12.2 overs Vivek Singh 54 not out) by nine wickets.
Tamil Nadu 189 for 5 in 20 overs (C Hari Nishanth 92 not out, Dinesh Karthik 46) beat Jharkhand (123 for 7 in 20 overs, Anand Singh 28 not out, Sonu Yadav 3/31, Sandeep Warrier 2/22) by 66 runs.
