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Player of the Match
Player of the Match

Hardik, Meriwala combine to knock out Bengal

Hardik Pandya struck twice in the 16th over PTI

Baroda 172 for 7 (Rawat 40, Rajput 37, Pramanik 2-6) beat Bengal 131 (Shahbaz 55, Meriwala 3-17, Hardik 3-27) by 41 runs

It was a tale of two birthday boys in Bengaluru. Baroda's left-arm quick Lukman Meriwala celebrated by nabbing three top-order wickets in the same over, before Bengal allrounder Shahbaz Ahmed kept his side alive with a half-century in the chase of 173. Shahbaz ran out of partners though, and Baroda beat Bengal by 41 runs to book their place in the semi-finals of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy.

Bengal were off to a steady start with 28 runs on the board after three overs, before Meriwala's dream over. He had Karan Lal chopping on for 6, trapped Sudip Kumar Gharami lbw for 2, and took a stunning return catch to dismiss Writtick Chatterjee for a duck.

Next over, Atit Sheth added to the damage by having a dangerous-looking Abishek Porel caught at mid-on for 22 off 13 balls. That is when Shahbaz walked out at No. 6, and joined hands with Ritwik Roy Chowdhury. Despite being 31 for 4 in a tall chase, Chowdhury and Shahbaz counterattacked by cracking four boundaries and a six off the first nine balls of their partnership.

Shahbaz then swung Sheth for six and also drove him for a boundary in the eighth over, while Chowdhury whacked Hardik Pandya for six over fine leg in the tenth. But next ball, Hardik had Chowdhury caught behind, leaving Bengal at 88 for 5 at the halfway stage, and Shahbaz with too much to do. Although Shahbaz kept losing partners, he smacked 55 off 36 balls with three fours and four sixes before falling to Sheth in the 18th over.

The base for Baroda's total of 172 was laid by their openers Shashwat Rawat and Abhimanyusingh Rajput. They had taken their time to settle in on a slow pitch, with Rajput riding his luck in the powerplay. First, he was dropped on 4 by Chowdhury off Mohammed Shami in the opening over of the game (Shami would finish with the expensive figures of 4-0-43-2). Then, with Rajput on 16, Bengal's review for a not-out on-field call for lbw off Kanishk Seth returned umpire's call.

Rajput and Rawat upped the rate with 50 runs on the board after the powerplay and all ten wickets intact. Shahbaz was slashed over extra cover for four and reverse swept for six. In the eighth over, Rajput swat-pulled Saksham Choudhary for six over long-on, before Rawat heaved and Rajput slapped Shahbaz for six and four more.

Their stand ended on 90 in the tenth over, and that started a phase where Baroda lost 4 for 23 within five overs. But handy cameos from Shivalik Sharma (24 off 17), Bhanu Pania (17 off 11) and Vishnu Solanki (16* off 7) ensured Baroda posted 51 in the last four overs. In the end, the 172 they took their side to proved more than enough.

Bengal 2nd innings Partnerships

WktRunsPlayers
1st29Karan LalAbishek Porel
2nd2SK GharamiAbishek Porel
3rd0WB ChatterjeeAbishek Porel
4th0RR Roy ChowdhuryAbishek Porel
5th54RR Roy ChowdhuryShahbaz Ahmed
6th6PJ PramanikShahbaz Ahmed
7th22Shahbaz AhmedSSK Chaudhary
8th0Mohammed ShamiShahbaz Ahmed
9th18KK SethShahbaz Ahmed
10th0SS GhoshKK Seth

Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy

Group A
TeamMWLPTNRR
BENG761241.607
MP761241.536
RAJ752202.181
PNJB752201.57
HYD734121.974
BIHAR7258-1.646
MIZO7164-2.674
MEGHA7070-4.469
Group B
TeamMWLPTNRR
BRODA761242.353
SAU761242.267
GUJ761241.932
KNTKA734121.092
TN734120.869
UKHND7258-1.151
TPURA7258-1.181
SIKM7070-6.437
Group C
TeamMWLPTNRR
DELHI761242.224
UP752201.942
JHK752201.893
J + K752201.134
HRYNA734121.672
HP734120.196
MNPR7164-2.37
ARP7070-7.611
Group D
TeamMWLPTNRR
VIDAR641181.839
CHD642160.224
RLYS632140.741
ASSAM63312-2.213
CGR623100.746
PONDI6248-1.474
ODSA6146-0.106
Group E
TeamMWLPTNRR
AP651202.526
MUM651201.213
KER642160.85
MAHA63312-0.154
GOA62480.114
SVCS62480.037
NAGA6060-4.538