LUCKNOW: Ruturaj Gaikwad scored his third straight half-century (81 off 47 balls) and powered Maharashtra to a 27-run win over Odisha in an Elite Group A match of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy T20 cricket tournament on Saturday.
In another group match, defending champions Tamil Nadu chased down 130 in 16.1 overs against Pondicherry to register their third consecutive win.
In the Maharashtra-Odisha match, skipper Gaikwad won the toss and opted to bat and led the way for the team.
After scoring fifties against TN and Punjab, the stylish right-hander toyed with the Odisha attack and shared a 131-run partnership for the second wicket with India discard Kedar Jadhav, who made 55 from 35 balls.
The quickfire partnership which came in less than 12 overs put Maharashtra on track for a big score. Gaikwad played his trademark elegant drives and did not hesitate to go for the big shots.
His dismissal in the 15th over came as some relief for the Odisha bowlers as the rest of the batters could not continue in same vein.
In reply, Odisha lost skipper Rajesh Dhupar with the score at 18 and save for a 56-run second wicket partnership between Anshy Rath (34) and Subhranshu Senapathi (27), the batters could not take the fight to the Maharashtra bowlers.
Left-arm medium-pacer Divyang Himganekar was the best bowler for Maharashtra, returning figures of 4 for 35.
Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu skipper N Jagadeesan sent Pondicherry into bat and the bowlers, left-arm spinner R Sai Kishore in particular, never allowed them to get going.
Ragu (32) Fabid Ahmed (27) and captain D Rohit (25) made contributions but the team could only muster 129 for 8 in 20 overs.
Left-handed opener C Hari Nishaanth powered his way to an unbeaten 75 off 49 balls as Tamil Nadu overhauled the target in the 17th over.
Brief scores:
