Maharashtra beat Baroda by 8 wickets
Pune | Sunday, Oct 25 2009 IST
 

Hosts Maharashtra, propelled by undefeated half centuries by opener Rohan Bhosale (54 off 50 balls) and middle order batsman Kedar Jadhav (60 from 31 ball) fashioned a convincing eight-wicket win over Baroda in their last league outing of Captain Mustaq ali twenty 20 Cricket Championship at the Poona Club ground today.

The hosts thus qualified as the second team with Mumbai emerging on top from the zone, which was decided on net run rate.

After restricting Baroda to 152 for 7 in their twenty overs, Maharashtra overhauled the rival total, losing only two wickets in the bargain of seventeen overs.

Maharashtra, who started rather badly losing their skipper and opener Harshad Khadiwale on 10 recovered through sizzling knocks coming from Bhosale and Jadhav. Bhosale added 42 runs in the company of keeper Rohit Motwani 17 off 15 balls. He was then joined by Jadhav and the pair sent the rival attack to the sword. Bhosale rattled an unbeaten 54 from 50 balls (3x4s and 1 x6) while Jadhav's swashbuckling undefeated essay of 60 (5x4s and 3x6s) added 94 runs from the unbroken third wicket stand which saw them through.

Earlier, skipper Yusuf Pathan won the toss and batted first but their frontline batsmen found the rival pace and spin attack a difficult proposition to handle and were reeling at 5 for 90 in 13.3 overs. Middle order batsman Shatrunjay Gaikwadwho tried to pull his side out of the woods, hammered an unconquered 45 off 31 balls with the aid of 4x4s and 1x6, while Ketan Panchal 33 (20 balls 3x4s and 2x6s) added some semblence of respectability to their total.

Off spinner Ganesh Gaikwad claimed 3 for 27, while seamers Samad Fallah 1/23, Sajid Sureshnath 1/36 and left arm spinner Kiran Adhav 1/24 shared the spoils.

It was memorable performance by the hosts who started on the wrong foot losing their league opener against Gujarat at the same venue on Tuesday but came back very strongly to record backt-to- back three wins in which they got the better off the star studded Mumbai to have a tally of 12 points identical to that of Mumbai.

Maharashtra thus qualified as the second team from west zone with Mumbai emerging on the top with better Net Run Rate. Baroda opener Azhar Bilakhia, however, had a reprieve with a mere warning from the match referee Prakash Bhatt, who banged his bat after been given LBW. It may be recalled that Mumbai middle order batsman Rohit Sharma was penalised for breach of BCCI code of conduct Level ii for using abusive language and suffered the penalty of losing his 100 per cent match fee in the match against Maharashtra yesterday.

Brief Scores : Baroda 152 for 7 in 20 overs (Shatrunjay Gaikwad 45 n.o.(31b,4x4s,1x6) Ketan Panchal 33 (20b,3x4s,2x6s), Irshad Sindhi 15 (16b,3x4s), Azhar Bilakhia 18 (12b,4x4s), Yusuf Pathan 11 (9b,1x6), Ganesh Gaikwad 3/27, Samad Fallah 1/23, Sajid Sureshnath 1/36, Kiran Adhav 1/24 lost to Maharashtra 154 for 2 in 17 overs (Rohan Bhosale 54 n.o. (50b, 3x4s,1x6) Kedar Jadhav 60 n.o. (31b, 5x4s,3x6s), Salim Veragi 1/23, Yusuf Pathan 1/22.

-- (UNI) -- 25SPB1.xml

 

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