Internet Desk: Captain of Mumbai cricket team Aditya Tare scored a quickfire 79, while Ajinkya Rahane played a fluent innings of 78 runs as they beat Baroda by six runs in a high-scoring match of West Zone in Syed Mushtaq Ali T-20 tournament at Vadodara on Sunday.
The pair of Rahane and Tare batted valiantly for Mumbai to post 211 for three on the board and then restricted an equally well balanced Baroda to 201 for eight to register the win.
Asked to bat, Mumbai lost Shreyas Iyer early before Rahane and Tare joined hands to stitch a commanding 152-run stand for the second wicket to lay the foundation for the score.
Out of India Twenty20 squad for poor show with the bat, Rahane roared back to form scoring his runs off just 53 balls with the help of 11 boundaries and one hit over the fence.
Tare, on the other hand, was a tad faster than Rahane in piling up his runs off just 41 deliveries with five fours and as many sixes.
Shivam Dubey also used his long handle to great effect towards the end scoring 37 unbeaten runs off just 13 balls, a knock which was studded with two boundaries and four hits over the fence.
Left-arm medium pacer Rishi Arothe (1/51) was the only successful bowler for Baroda as two other Mumbai batsmen were victims of run outs.
Chasing the steep target, Baroda gave Mumbai a run for their money before eventually falling short.
Vishnu Solanki (69 not out off 34) was the star for Baroda with the bat, while Swapnil Singh (35) and opening duo of Miten Shah (33) and Kedar Devdhar (31) also made significant scores.
However, Baroda were completely let down by their star players — skipper Irfan Pathan and his brother Yusuf — as they failed to crack with both bat and ball.
For Mumbai, veteran leg-spinner Pravin Tambe (3/26) picked up three wickets, while Shivam Dubey (2/6) snared two wickets in the one over he bowled in the game.
Meanwhile in another West Zone encounter, first-time Ranji Trophy champions Gujarat defeated Maharashtra by five wickets.
Opting to bowl, Gujarat restricted Maharshtra to 154 for seven and then chased down the target in 18.5 overs with five wickets in hand.
In another match, India discard Dinesh Karthik top-scored with a 33-ball 45 as Tamil Nadu defeated Karnataka by four wickets in their Syed Mushtaq Ali South Zone Twenty20 match on Sunday.
Chasing 145 to win after Karnataka chose to bat, Tamil Nadu completed the job in 19.2 overs at the MA Chidambaram Stadium.
Murugan Ashwin remained not out on a breezy 34 off 20 balls, while skipper Vikay Shankar contributed 30 off 26 deliveries.
Karthik struck four boundaries and a six before being run out, while Ashwin’s knock was laced with three fours and two sixes.
Karnataka saw a glimmer of hope after Rajagopal Sathish’s departure, which made it 86 for five in the 14th over, but Ashwin and Karthik ensured there was no setback thereafter, in the end guiding their team to a comfortable win.
Batting first after winning the toss, Karnataka were off to a disastrous start, losing both the openers with just seven runs on the board.
Ravikumar Samarth finished as the top-scorer with 40 runs, while four batsmen got out after scoring 16 runs each.
Brief Scores:
Mumbai: 211 for three in 20 overs (Aditya Tare 79, Ajinkya Rahane 78; Rishi Arothe 1/51) vs Baroda: 205 for eight in 20 overs (Vishnu Solanki 69 not out; Pravin Tambe 3/26).
Maharshtra: 154 for seven in 20 overs (Ankit Bawne 90 not out; Rujul Bhatt 3/28) vs Gujarat: 155 for five in 18.5 overs (Rujul Bhatt 54; Anupam Sanklecha 2/47).
With inputs from PTI.