JOIN USBaroda and Kerala kept themselves in the hunt for a berth in the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 All India tournament final by defeating Rajasthan and Bengal respectively in low-scoring Group B matches here on Friday.
Baroda chased the meagre total of 103 all out put up by Rajasthan successfully to win comprehensively by ten wickets at the Wankhede Stadium, for their third win on the trot.
Kerala defended their modest score of 101 for 8 by bundling out Bengal for a pathetic 82 to win by 19 runs at the Sharad Pawar indoor academy ground in the Bandra-Kurla complex for their second win in three games.
Going into the last day’s group phase tomorrow, Baroda are top of the table with 12 points followed by Kerala and Rajasthan with 8 points apiece. Baroda, who just need to win on the morrow to qualify for the April 14 final here, lead in the net run-rate too with +1.405 followed by Kerala (+0.515) and Rajasthan (-0.219)
Left-arm medium pacer Manukrishnan led the spirited bowling performance with a brilliant haul of 4 for 6 as Kerala outwit Bengal after being dismissed cheaply. In the Baroda-Rajasthan game, Baroda held complete sway as they throttled their rivals with accurate seam bowling after asking Rajasthan to bat first on a bouncy track.
Brief scores: At Mumbai: Kerala 101 for 8 (Rohan Prem 51; Pritam Chakraborty 2 for 9, Saurashish Lahiri 2 for 11) beat Bengal 82 all out ( Avilin Ghosh 27; Pankaj Shaw 27; Manukrishnan 4 for 6, Rakesh KJ 2 for 14, P Prasanth 2 for 18)
Rajasthan 103 all out in 19.3 overs (Puneet Yadav 34; R Arothe 3 for 29, L Meriwala 3 for 12, H Pandya 2 for 15) lost to Baroda 105 for no loss in 16.1 overs (K Devdhar 45, A Waghmode 50).
At Rajkot: Gujarat: 187/4 in 20 overs (PK Panchal 74, RD Darbar 35) bt Uttar Pradesh: 150 all out in 20 overs (Mukul Dagar 58, Aksh Deep Nath 27; Panchal 4-19, RH Bhatt 3-15).
Goa: 172/4 in 20 overs (Swapnil Asnodkar 57, Sagun Kamat 40) bt Jharkhand: 114/8 in 20 overs (Kaushal Singh 40, Shiv Gautam 30; Gauresh Gawas 3-18, Darshan Misal 2-15).