Irfan Pathan takes Baroda into the knockouts of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy

Five matches five wins and Baroda have made themselves a strong contender for winning the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2016. The team has not looked under any pressure in most of the matches that they have played in the tournament thus far and not let any of their oppositions get the upper hand. The best part about the team has been their all-round performance, not just with the bat or the ball they have been top class in all the departments of the game.

Andhra skipper KS Bharat won the toss and decided to bat first and gave them a fiery start before his partner Prashant Kumar was dismissed by all-rounder Hardik Pandya in the 4th over. The next man in Pradeep was stumped by wicketkeeper Kedar Devdhar off the bowling of Swapnil Singh.

Andhra then lost a wicket in the 6th, 8th, 12th, 13th, 16th and 20th over to wrap up their innings with a total of 91 on the board for the loss of 9 wickets. Baroda bowlers were once again upto the mark not giving away anything to the batsmen. Skipper Pathan though was wicketless gave away just 13 in his first three overs but was taken away for 19 in his last.

Coming in to chase 92 for a change the home team had a poor start losing the first wicket with just 16 on the board. The Andhra bowlers did not let any of the Baroda batsmen get in as Mrunal, Aditya Waghmode, Hardik Pandya, Yusuf Pathan and Deepak Hooda were dismissed for 10, 6, 8, 7 and 1.

Skipper Irfan Pathan who had done well thus far in the series both with the bat and ball took the responsibility of the chase as he found a partner in Swapnil Singh who stayed there for 19 balls scoring 13. In the end, Pathan stayed unbeaten on 28 off 25 balls as he curbed his natural instinct of going for the big shots and played with more patience and intent to take his team over the line. Bodavarapu Sudhakar was the pick of the bowlers for Andra as he dismissed 3 Baroda batsmen. Delhi & Baroda have now qualified for the Super 8s from Group C.

Brief Scores:

Andhra- 91/9 in 20 overs (K Bharat 30; B Bhatt 2/5, H Pandya 2/13)

Baroda- 93/7 in 16.5 overs (Irfan Pathan 28*; B Sundharkar 3/15)

Baroda won the match by 3 wickets