‘Senior’ Pandya helps Baroda kick-off campaign with a win

VADODARA, Jan 10: 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.
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.
Krunal 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.
Kunal Chandela, who came in at number seven, stuck a 26-ball 48 but the two could not take their side home.
Brief Scores:
At Reliance Ground:
Baroda 168/7 (Krunal Pandya 76, S Patel 41; A Madhwal 3/16) won against Uttarakhand 163/6 (D Negi 77 not out; Kunal Chandela 48; Krunal Pandya 2/33) by five runs.
At Motibaug Ground:
Gujarat 157/8 (Axar Patel 30, Ripal Patel 29; M Choudhary 3/33) won against Maharashtra 128 all out (Naushad Shaikh 31; Ruturaj Gaikwad 26; Arzan Nagwasalla 6/19) by 29 runs.
At F B Colony Ground:
Himachal Pradesh 173/5 (R Thakur 53, E C Sen 38 not out; Vishal Singh 3/18) won against Chhattisgarh 141/8 (Amandeep Khare 87 not out; Rishi Dhawan 3/29, Vaibhav Arora 2/24) by 32 runs. (PTI)