UP clinch Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy

Uttar Pradesh clinched their maiden Mushtaq Ali T20 Trophy with a thumping 38-run win over two- time champions Baroda in the final under lights at the Wankhede Stadium here on Wednesday.

Displaying all-round display UP pulled out all stops - even overcoming the loss of the toss, to put it across the champions of 2011-12 and 2013-14 and win the summit clash.

This was UP’s ninth straight win in the tournament, including five in the preliminary league phase and three more in the super league stage held in this city.

UP built their innings around opener Prashanth Gupta’s 49 in 41 balls and captain Suresh Raina’s unbeaten 47 in 37 balls to post a challenging score of 163 for seven.

In reply, Baroda lost half their side for 84 and then were stopped at 125 for seven wickets. Baroda just failed to get going full throttle, especially against the double spin attack of Chinaman bowler Kuldeep Yadav (2 for 12) and orthodox leg spinner Piyush Chawla (0 for 16).

Yadav’s dismissal of Baroda’s most successful batsman of the tournament, the Australia-bound Hardik Pandya (13) and Deepak Hooda (15), tilted the game in UP’s favour.