Krunal Pandya stars as Baroda kick-off campaign with a win

Put into bat in a Group C game, hosts Baroda first rode on Pandya’s blazing 76 to post a competitive 168/7 on the board before the bowlers held their nerves to restrict Uttarakhand to 163/6 despite a fighting 77 by Dikshanshu Negi.

Krunal Pandya's all-round show helped Baroda beat Uttarakhand by five runs in their opening game of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy here on Sunday.

File image of India cricketer Krunal Pandya. (AP)

Put into bat in a Group C game, hosts Baroda first rode on Pandya’s blazing 76 to post a competitive 168/7 on the board before the bowlers held their nerves to restrict Uttarakhand to 163/6 despite a fighting 77 by Dikshanshu Negi.

Krunal, who is Baroda’s captain, also contributed with the ball handsomely to return with figures of 2/33.

While batting, the left-handed Krunal took the Uttarakhand bowlers to cleaners, hammering five fours and as many sixes.

He along with Smit Patel conjured a crucial 89 run stand for the fourth wicket and rescued the team after they were reeling at 41/3 at one stage.

For Uttarakhand, right-handed batsman Negi hammered nine boundaries and six in his 57-ball 77 run knock, while Kunal Chandela, who came in at number seven, stuck a 26-ball 48 but the two could not take their side home.

Brief Scores:

At Reliance Ground: Baroda 168/7 (Krunal Pandya 76, S Patel 41; A Madhwal 3/16) won against Uttarakhand 163/6 (D Negi 77 not out; Kunal Chandela 48; Krunal Pandya 2/33) by five runs.

At Motibaug Ground: Gujarat 157/8 (Axar Patel 30, Ripal Patel 29; M Choudhary 3/33) won against Maharashtra 128 all out (Naushad Shaikh 31; Ruturaj Gaikwad 26; Arzan Nagwasalla 6/19) by 29 runs.

At F B Colony Ground: Himachal Pradesh 173/5 (R Thakur 53, E C Sen 38 not out; Vishal Singh 3/18) won against Chhattisgarh 141/8 (Amandeep Khare 87 not out; Rishi Dhawan 3/29, Vaibhav Arora 2/24) by 32 runs. PTI NRB BS BS