Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2016: Irfan Pathan’s 5-wicket hauls leads Baroda to a win

Baroda were up against Assam in their opening game of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2016 at the Reliance Cricket Stadium, Vadodara. Assam skipper Gokul Sharma won the toss and asked Irfan Pathan’s team to bat first. Openers Kedar and Mrunal Devdhar gave Baroda a good start scoring 48 and 21 respectively, but mid-way in their innings things didn’t look exciting as the home team lost the set players and the incoming batsmen weren’t able to hit big.

Vice-captain Deepak Hooda took the charge from there and along with Swapnil Singh took Baroda to 164 in their share of overs; Hooda stayed unbeaten on 47 off 33 balls while Swapnil scored a quickfire 10-ball 22. 165 looked a stiff target for the visiting team but, their chances were hit hard when skipper Irfan Pathan dealt dual blows in the very first over of the Assam innings getting rid of both the openers Purkayastha and Sarupam. He returned in his second to account for Avijit Singha Roy’s wicket, removed Arun Karthick in his 3^rd and completed his maiden 5-wicket haul in T20s with Gokul Sharma, who was LBW for a duck.

Playing his 150^th T20 match and leading the Baroda team for the first time since he last captained them in the Ranji Trophy 2009 Irfan literally sealed the victory for his team by the time he bowled his 4^th over. He returned with superb figures of 4-0-13-5. Other bowlers too chipped in to get another 4 wickets while Assam ended their 20 overs for 116 runs conceding the match by 48 runs and with that Baroda earn 4 points for themselves in the tournament.

Performing well here is not only important for Irfan’s chances of making a comeback in the national squad but he had a point to prove since the BCA had overlooked him for the first half of the Ranji season despite being fit and available.

Ahead of the domestic T20 championship the all-rounder was quoted by The Hindu saying, “Performing well for Baroda in these five matches is crucial for me and the team. We could have done better in the first-class season, and this T20 tournament is a chance to set things right.”

“I was not considered good enough, though I was fit and available to play. Now that I have been asked to lead at short notice, the accumulated experience will be useful in the matches ahead,” he said.

Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy will also help him make a statement ahead of the IPL 2016 auction since he is in the open pool of players now after the CSK franchise was suspended. The 31-year old has started the tournament on a high and since it has been organized with the World T20 squad in view, who knows Irfan might give a timely reminder to the selectors of the player who was Man of the Match of the final of the T20 world cup 2007 that India won.

Brief Scores:

Baroda- 164/8 in 20 overs (K Devdhar 48, D Hooda 47*; S Mohammed 2/28)

Assam- 116/9 in 20 overs (S Mohammed 42*; I Pathan 5/13)

Baroda won by 48 runs