West Zone champions Baroda and South Zone runners-up Kerala made a winning start to their campaign in the Syed Mushtaq Ali All India T20 tournament by defeating Bengal and Delhi, respectively.
Baroda, who won all their four league games in the zonal event, notched up their fifth straight victory by overwhelming Bengal by seven wickets at the Sharad Paar Cricket Academy ground in the Bandra-Kurla complex. Baroda shot out their rivals for a paltry 96 and then overtook the target easily in 14 overs to score a comprehensive win.
Kerala overcame a depleted Delhi by 14 runs in the other Group B game at the Wankhede Stadium by notching up a challenging 150 for 6, with opener V Jagadeesh top scoring with 52 in 36 balls. They then restricted Delhi to 136 for 9 with some efficient bowling and brilliant fielding.
In the Baroda-Bengal game, Bengal plunged into trouble soon after being asked to bat first by their rivals to be reduced to 50 for five and never recovered from this poor start. Captain S Sanyal top scored with 13.
For Baroda, medium pacers lukman Meriwala and Abhijit Karambelkar captured three wickets each on a seaming track. Chasing the modest target, Baroda were given a decent start by Kedar Devdar (11) and Aditya Waghmode (26-ball 27).
Although in the middle they lost two wickets in close succession, Baroda sailed home thanks to an unbroken fourth wicket stand of 43 between R Solanki (16 not out) and Deeepak Hooda (24 not out off 17 balls with four fours). A Gani bagged 28 for two for Bengal.
Brief Scores
Bengal: 96 all out in 20 overs (l Meriwala 3/19, A Karambelkar 3/22, H Pandya 2/10) lost to Baroda: 97/3 in 14 overs (A Waghmode 27, D Hooda not out 24; A Gani 2/28) by 7 wickets.
Kerala: 150/6 (V Jagadeesh 52, K Rakesh 36; S Baby 28; J Khan 2/22, V Sood 2/29, Y Nagar 2/29) beat Delhi: 136/9 (V Kumar 2/17, P Prashanth 2/23, K Rakesh (3/34).
Goa beat Haryana, Gujarat pip Jharkhand
Rajkot: Captain Swapnil Asnodkar made an unbeaten 70 as South Zone toppers Goa beat Haryana by eight wickets in the opening match here on Tuesday. Goa skipper Swapnil Asnodkar won the toss and decided to bowl first and his bowlers gave good response to the skippers decision restricting Haryana on 116 for 9 wickets off 20 overs at Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium (SCA) at Khandheri.
Goa chased the target losing only two wickets with two overs to spare. Meanwhile, Chintan Gaja and Kamlesh Thakore shared five wickets between them and the unbeaten 45 runs by Smit Patel helped Gujarat beat Jharkhand by 6 wickets.
Gujarat first restricted Jharkhand at 108 runs and then achieved the target of losing four wickets with 11 balls to spare. Electing to bat first, Kumar Deobrat (25) contributed for Jharkhand, which managed 108 runs losing eight wickets as Gujarat bowlers took wickets at regular intervals.
Kamlesh Thakore was the most succesful bowler for Gujarat taking three wickets, while Chintan Gaja got two wickets. Priyank Panchal and Rajdeep Darbar gave flying start to Gujarat in their run chase adding 36 runs in first 5 overs before darbar (25) got out.
Brief Scores
Haryana: 116/9 (Joginder Sharma 29, Rahul Dalal 25, Sonu Rathi 13*, l Garg 3/31, Gauresh Gawas 2/28) lost to Goa: 118/2 in 18 overs (Swapnil Asnodkar not out 70, Suraj Dongre (29) by 8 wickets.
Jharkhand: 108/8 (Kumar Deobrat 25; Thakore 3/19, C Gaja 2/18) lost to Gujarat: 110/4 in 18.1 overs (Smit Patel 45*; S Quadri 3/16) by 6 wickets.