A clinical Karnataka put up a fine all-round show to register a seven-wicket win over Baroda in the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 tournament in Guwahati on Monday. Opting to bat in an afternoon game, Baroda were restricted to 134 and Karnataka overhauled the target with five balls to spare.
On a slow surface, Karnataka made one change from their previous match against Services, bringing in pacer Prasidh Krishna for MB Darshan. Left-arm spinner J Suchith was pressed into action in the third over and the move paid off immediately with Kedar Devdhar handing a catch to Vyshak Vijaykumar.
Vishnu Solanki (17) and Dhruv Patel (23) then built a small yet significant partnership of 35 runs but Vyshak (2/34) broke the partnership in the eighth over with Patel holing out to Devdutt Padikkal at deep square leg.
Skipper Krunal Pandya (7) was the next to go, gifting a return catch to off-spinner K Gowtham. Solanki followed in Gowtham's next over, caught by Manish Pandey at covers.
Bhanu Pania (36) and Parth Kohli (24) then held the middle order together but Prasidh got rid of Kohli and put the brakes on Baroda's scoring. They lost two wickets off the last two balls of the innings to finish at 134.
Karnataka began their reply with openers Mayank Agarwal (28) and Devdutt Padikkal (56, 47b, 5x4, 1x6) leading the charge with their 73-run partnership. Mayank lost his stumps to Ninad Rathva (2/15) and Pandey's (3) stay at the crease ended early with Lukman Meriwala disturbing the timber.
He struck again to send back Padikkal in the 16th over. Karun Nair (36 n.o, 25b, 4x4, 1x6) and Aniruddha Joshi (11) saw the former champions through.
With this win, their fourth on the trot, Karnataka are on top of Elite Group B with 16 points and are set to enter the knockouts in New Delhi. In their last league engagement on Tuesday, Karnataka take on Bengal.
SCOREBOARD
Baroda: Kedar Devdhar c Vyshak b Suchith 15, Vishnu Solanki c Pandey b Gowtham 17, Dhruv Patel c Padikkal b Vyshak 23, Krunal Pandya c & b Gowtham 7, Dhanu Pania (run out) 36, P Kohli c Sharath b Prasidh 24, A Sheth (not out) 6, K Kakade c Pandey b Vyshak 0. Extras (W-3; B-1; LB-2) 6. Total (7 wkts; 20) 134.
Fall of wickets: 1-18, 2-53, 3-63, 4-68, 5-119, 6-134, 7-134.
Bowling: Prasidh Krishna 4-0-28-1, Vyshak Vijayakumar 4-0-34-2, Suchith J 4-0-26-1, KC Cariappa 4-0-26-0, Gowtham K 4-0-17-2.
Karnataka:
Mayank Agarwal b Rathva 28, Devdutt Padikkal c Kakade b Rathva 56, Manish Pandey b Meriwala 3, Karun Nair (not out) 36, Aniruddha Joshi (not out) 11. Extras (W-2; LB-1) 3. Total (2 wkts; 19.1 overs) 137.
Fall of wickets: 1-73, 2-81, 3-104.
Bowling: Krunal Pandya 3-0-33-0, Kakade 4-0-29-0, Meriwala 3.1-0-17-1, A Sheth 3-0-31-0, Rathva 4-0-15-2, Ansh Patel 2-0-11-0.
