The last two games of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Super League went down the wire as UP beat Delhi at the BKC ground while Baroda defeated Mumbai to enter the finals. On a day where net run-rates were calculated furiously as teams strove to keep themselves in contention for a place in the domestic T20 finals, the Irfan Pathan-led team held their nerve in a cliff-hanger while UP continued their winning streak in their campaign to lift the trophy.
Amit Mishra starred in UP’s win with an all-round performance while Eklavya Dwivedi again proved to be a vital cog in the line-up. For Baroda, it was young Deepak Hooda’s knock that helped them pull off a win.
Group ABaroda vs Mumbai: Mumbai 151/5 in 20 overs (S Yadav 57*, S Singh 25, B Bhatt 2/25) lost to Baroda 153/9 in 19 overs (D Hooda 53, H Pandya 28, P Tambe 3/26, D Kulkarni 2/23) by 1 wicket
In a nail-biting finish, Baroda sneaked into the final with a one-wicket win over Mumbai at the Wankhede Stadium. Asked to bat, Mumbai, who were at the top of the table ahead of the third round game, were restricted to 151 by the Irfan Pathan-led team. Left on 96 for five in the 15th over, Mumbai were lifted to a respectable total by Suryakumar Yadav. Coming in to bat at No 6, the stylish batsman scored unbeaten 57 off 36 balls to set the opposition a target.
Dhawal Kulkarni then claimed Kedar Devdhar off the first ball and 28 runs later Pravin Tambe castled Mrunal Devdhar. As wickets continued to fall, Hooda held the Baroda innings together as they strove to chase down the target in 19.1 overs to be able to qualify for the finals. At 145, they lost seventh wicket and two balls later they lost their eight wicket while the score was on 149. On the next ball Rishi Arothe was run out. At 149 for nine in 18.5 overs, Bhargav Bhatt found himself in the company of Munaf Patel and took the team to victory with a boundary off the last ball of the over.
Group B
Delhi vs UP: Delhi 158/6 in 20 overs (U Chand 48, P Negi 41, A Mishar 2/25, K Yadav 2/29, P Chawla 2/31) lost to UP 159/7 in 19.4 overs (E Dwivedi 49*, S Raina 22, A Mishra 19*, N Saini 2/24) by 3 wickets
While Pawan Negi's 23-ball 41-run unbeaten knock lifted Delhi to 158, it was Mishra's nine-ball 19 (2x4; 1x6) along with Dwivedi's 35-ball 49 not out that helped UP scale the target.
Mishra was the stand out performer for UP in their must win match after Gujarat had beaten Jharkhand earlier in the day. The pacer claimed the key wicket of Gautam Gambhir upfront and later returned to send back Unmukt Chand who had held the Delhi innings together with 48 off 35. Piyush Chawla and Kuldeep Yadav too claimed two wickets each as Delhi set the opposition a competitive target.
Chasing the 159, UP lost the top half of their line-up at regular intervals and were 68 for five. However, Dwivedi, who has been the mainstay of their batting, kept the team in the chase with a well paced knock. He found an able support from the batsmen to follow. While Chawla chipped in with 10, Praveen Kumar contributed 18 runs to the match inched towards a close finish. Mishra who joined Dwivedi after Praveen's run out helped claim 19 off the penultimate over off Subodh Bhati to tip the balance in UP's favour. With ten runs required off the last over, UP then coasted home with two balls to spare.
