Gujarat skipper Axar Patel plays a shot against Karnataka in a Group B Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 trophy match at the Holkar Stadium, Indore, Madhya Pradesh on Thursday, December 5, 2024.
| Photo Credit: SHIV KUMAR PUSHPAKAR
In the end, it came down to net run rate. The battle between Saurashtra, Baroda and Gujarat to advance to the knockout phase of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy from Group B was that tight. And one of them was going to miss out despite doing little wrong over the past two weeks — that turned out to be Gujarat.
Led by skipper Axar Patel’s all-round heroics, Gujarat did what was asked of it against Karnataka on the final day of the group stage by cruising to a 48-run victory at the Holkar Stadium. After amassing 251 for five, it bundled out Mayank Agarwal’s team for 203.
The win took it to 24 points after seven matches, the same as Saurashtra and Baroda eventually, but a net run rate of 1.932 meant it was still third in the standings in this group. For Gujarat to better Baroda’s net run rate, it had to restrict Karnataka to 144 or less.
While Saurashtra and Baroda were always expected to win their matches on Thursday, the decisive factor proved to be the latter’s mammoth victory margin of 263 runs against Sikkim.
Electing to bat at the Emerald Heights International School ground in the day’s opening match, Baroda smashed 349 for five, the highest total in T20 history. It also struck an unprecedented 37 sixes, with Bhanu Pania belting as many as 15 in his unbeaten 134.
Both these records had earlier belonged to Zimbabwe, which had hammered 344 for four, including 27 maximums, against Gambia in Nairobi in October this year.
With Sikkim restricted to 86 for seven in the run chase, Baroda’s net run rate surged from 0.437 to 2.353 for a first-place finish that secured qualification for the quarters.
Saurashtra finished second, after chasing down 137 against Tripura in 13.3 overs with four wickets in hand. At 2.267, its net run rate was marginally behind. It secured automatic entry into the last eight, nevertheless, on account of being the best second-placed team across all five groups.
The scores: Group B (At Indore): Baroda 349/5 in 20 overs (Bhanu Pania 134 n.o., Shivalik Sharma 55, Abhimanyu Singh 53, Vishnu Solanki 50, Shashwat Rawat 43) beat Sikkim 86/7 in 20 overs; Toss: Baroda; Points: Baroda 4 (24), Sikkim 0 (0).
Gujarat 251/5 in 20 overs (Aarya Desai 73, Axar Patel 56 n.o., Abhishek Desai 47, Urvil Patel 33, Hemang Patel 30)beat Karnataka 203 in 19.1 overs (R. Smaran 49, Mayank Agarwal 45, Manish Pandey 30; Ravi Bishnoi 3/28); Toss: Karnataka; Gujarat 4 (24), Karnataka 0 (12).
Tripura 136 in 19.3 overs (Bikramkumar Das 52, Manisankar Murasingh 51; Dharmendrasinh Jadeja 3/19, Chirag Jani 3/24) lost to Saurashtra 141/6 in 13.3 overs (Prerak Mankad 46, Ruchit Ahir 37 n.o.); Toss: Tripura; Tripura 0 (8), Saurashtra 4 (24).
Tamil Nadu 194/5 in 20 overs (N. Jagadeesan 57, Tushar Raheja 55, B. Indrajith 37) beat Uttarakhand 100 in 20 overs (Aditya Tare 31; Sandeep Warrier 4/21); Toss: Uttarakhand; Tamil Nadu 4 (12), Uttarakhand 0 (8).
Published – December 05, 2024 06:35 pm IST
