Patient knock by Australia-bound batsman makes the difference as his team outplays Pathan's Baroda
It was supposed to be a keenly contested title clash with two of the best T20 domestic teams – Uttar Pradesh and Baroda —making it to the final round after two league stages.
However, it turned out to be a lop-sided affair as Suresh Raina-led UP easily walked away with the honours, beating Irfan Pathan's Baroda by 38 runs to win the Syed Mushtaq Ali Twenty20 Trophy at the Wankhede Stadium on Wednesday evening.
This is UP's first domestic T20 title.
Over 4,000 fans gathered to watch a T20 game had to leave disappointed because of poor quality fight shown by Baroda in reply to Uttar Pradesh's challenging total.
Set a stiff target of 164 in 20 overs, the Baroda batsmen comprising big hitters like Yusuf Pathan (14, 27b), Australia-bound Hardik Pandya (13, 14b), Deepak Hooda (15, 15b) and Irfan Pathan (10, 8b) struggled against a disciplined Uttar Pradesh bowling. They only managed to score 125 for the loss of seven wickets in 20 overs.
With the conditions favouring the bowlers, it was going to be tough for the batsmen to get their timing right as the ball skidded off the pitch. But the credit should go to the UP bowlers who pitched it in the right areas – hardly giving any room for the batsmen.
The conditions and the cold breeze presented perfect opportunity for seamers to flourish, which the UP bowlers Amit Mishra and Ankit Rajpoot, almost did, scalping openers Kedar Devdhar and Mrunal Devdhar in the early overs. However, it was the spinners – chinaman Kuldeep Yadav and leggie Piyush Chawla, who did the most damage by not letting them score easily.
The duo choked the batsmen denying them an opportunity to go for big shots. Pandya, who looked comfortable against seamers, doled out an easy return catch to Yadav while trying to work him to the on side.
Hero of the last game against Mumbai, Hooda, too, could not get into the groove struggling to find even the odd boundaries against the slow bowlers. His desperate attempt saw him slog into the hands of Praveen Gupta off Yadav, giving him his second wicket.
Yadav may have been successful in the wicket column, but he should thank Chawla for not giving away any loose stuff for Baroda to capitalise on.
What hurt Baroda most was the older Pathan's inability to play his natural attacking game. He was struggled to put the ball past the fielders and consumed 27 balls for his 14. He eventually got out to seamer Mishra, edging it to wicket-keeper Eklavya Dwivedi.
The junior Pathan showed promise with a confident boundary on the wide long on, but it came too late as the target had started to appear insurmountable. Eventually, he got out to Rajpoot for eight.
All-rounder Shoeb Tai was the only batsmen from Baroda who managed to impress with an unbeaten 23-ball 26 (3x4).
Earlier, put into bat, UP's story wasn't different from Baroda's batting. However, a composed knock from skipper Suresh Raina (47 not out, 37b, 2x4, 2x6) and opener Praveen Gupta's (49) helped UP reach 163 for seven in 20 overs.
Once opener Samarth Singh was sent back by Pandya, Gupta and No.3 Raina took it upon themselves to salvage the show.
The Australia-bound Raina was calm, playing the sheet anchor role while letting Gupta take on the bowlers with regular boundaries.
Gupta got a life in the initial overs. Fist he was dropped by wicket-keeper Pinal Shah in Munaf Patel's over.
He was later caught at the mid-wicket by Pandya off Patel's over but survived as it was adjudged a no-ball.
That did not deter their spirit as the duo put up a 60-run partnership for the second wicket. Gupta's innings, however, was cut short by Bhargav Bhatt as he tried to sweep him but was adjudged leg-before.
Even as the other batsman came and went, Raina's solid batting saw them reach a decent total. His knock however wasn't chanceless. Batting on 32, he stepped out and missed off-spinner Tai but 'keeper Shah missed the opportunity to stump the batsman out.
Brief scores: UP 163/7 (P Gupta 49, S Raina 47; B Bhatt 2/13) bt Baroda 125/7 in 20 overs (S Tai 26; A Rajpoot 3/30, A Mishra 2/33, K Yadav 2/12) by 38 runs
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