Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy: All-rounder Krunal leads Baroda to victory

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.

Vadodara: Krunal Pandya’s all-round show helped Baroda beat Uttarakhand by five runs in their opening game of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy here 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.

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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.

In Group B, hosts Bengal began their campaign with a thumping nine-wicket win against Odisha. 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.

Brief Scores (Round I)

Group A: Karnataka 150/5 in 20 overs (KL Shrijith 48 no) bt J & K 107 in 18.4 overs (Abdul Samad 30; M Prasidh 3/34)

Punjab 134/7 in 20 overs (Prabhsimran Singh 43; Bhuvneshwar Kumar 3/14) bt Uttar Pradesh 123/5 in 20 overs (Suresh Raina 56 no)

Tripura 170/3 in 20 overs (Milind 61 no) lost to Railways 173/4 in 19.3 overs (Mrunal Devdhar 61no; Sankar Paul 3/17);

Group B: Odisha 113 in 20 overs (Ishan Porel 4/26) lost to Bengal 114/1 in 12.2 overs (Vivek Singh 54 no)

Tamil Nadu 189/5 in 20 overs (C Hari Nishaanth 92 no, Dinesh Karthik 46) bt Jharkhand 123/7 in 20 overs (R Sonu Yadav 3/14)

Group C: Gujarat 157/8 in 20 overs (MG Choudhary 3/33) bt Maharashtra 128 in 19.3 overs (A Nagwaswalla 6/19)

Himachal 173/5 in 20 overs (RI Thakur 53; Vishal Singh 3/18) bt Chhattisgarh 141/8 in 20 overs (Amandeep Singh 87 no; RR Dhawan 3/29)

Baroda 168/7 in 20 overs (KR Pandya 76; A Madhwal 3/16, Raturi 3/34) bt Uttarakhand 163/6 in 20 overs (D Negi 77 no, Kunal Chandela 48)