Mumbai, Mar 25: Ambati Rayudu powered Baroda to a four-wicket win over Bengal in the low-scoring third quarter-final of the T20 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy at the Bandra Kurla Complex.
While Bengal missed injured skipper Sourav Ganguly, Baroda played without Yusuf Pathan in their all-important knockout match.
Asked to bat first, Manoj Tiwary’s Bengal side posted 111 for the loss of seven wickets in their 20 overs. Run out for six, opener Sreevats Goswami was the first to depart followed by Wirddhiman Saha a couple of overs later. Laxmi Ratan Shukla and Manoj Tiwary then added 40 runs off as many balls for the third wicket until Ketan Panchal broke the partnership. The Baroda medium pacer dealt a double blow with the wickets of Shukla and the Bengal skipper.
With the top four batsmen back in the dressing room with just 70 runs on the board in 12.3 overs, Bengal added 47 off the remaining 45 balls. While A Majumder contributed 20 before being sent back by Murtuza Vohara, Debrata Das chipped in with an unbeaten 17.
Defending a small total, Bengal claimed three early wickets – Aditya Waghmode, Monil Patel and Kedar Devdhar – to leave Baroda reeling on 26 for three. After Waghmode edged Shami Ahmed to Saha, Shukla was sent back Monil Patel and Devdhar handed the ball back to Iresh Saxena.
But Baroda still had Ambati Rayudu (66 off 56, 9x4, 2x6) to take the team across the line. Rayudu continued to milk the bowlers in the company of Panchal who played the supporting role. Soon after the partnership reached 51 runs, Panchal (10) lost his off-stump to Shami Ahmed. Skipper Pinal Shah then came out to join Rayudu in the middle. As they inched closer to the target, the batsman scored 14 runs off Ashoke Dinda in the 16th over, 12 of which came off Rayudu’s bat. However, in the next over, Shami Ahmed claimed Shah to finish with three wickets. But by then Baroda needed only 16 off 20 balls with Rayudu still at the crease. The big-hitting batsman was caught by Saxena off Dinda with just three runs required in the penultimate over.
Abhijit Karambelkar, in the company of Swapnil Singh, hit the winning runs to take Baroda into the semi-finals.
Brief scores: Bengal 111/7 in 20 overs (L U Shukla 27, M Vohara 2/18, K Panchal 2/23) lost to Baroda 114/6 in 19.2 overs (A Rayudu 66, Mohd Shami Ahmed 3/14) by 4 wickets.
