Mushtaq Ali Trophy: Delhi's Sudan concedes 39 in an over

Baroda’s Hardik Pandya struck 81 off 51 balls and claimed three wickets for 13 runs but still ended up on the losing side. Akash Sudan of Delhi conceded 39 runs in the 19th over of the Baroda innings, with Pandya hitting five sixes and a four.

Hardik Pandya... a brilliant all-round performance but failed to save Boraoda from defeat against Delhi.

Hardik Pandya’s all-round skills failed to stop Delhi from racing to victory and topping Group C in the Mushtaq Ali Trophy T20 tournament.

Coming in at No. 3, Baroda’s latest sensation smashed an unbeaten 81 off 51 balls. He scored 39 runs (including four byes) off a single over, at the Reliance Stadium, as his team posted 153 for six in 20 overs. He then scalped three wickets for 13 runs, but could not prevent Delhi from chasing down the target in clinical fashion with five wickets in hand and three balls to spare.

It was Delhi’s sixth successive win, made largely possible by left-hander Nitish Rana (53 off 29 balls) and right-hander Milind Kumar (29 not out off 24 balls), who played confidently. The two batsmen counter-attacked to guide Gautam Gambhir’s team to victory.

Chasing 154 for victory, Delhi stumbled against some tight bowling by Baroda. Skipper Irfan Pathan used six bowlers, choosing seam and spin from either ends. Deepak Hooda and Rishi Arothe responded well by taking stunning catches. Munaf Patel kept the batsmen in check in his first spell before Rana and Milind turned the game around before Negi gave the finishing touches.

Irfan turned to Munaf in the 19th over, but Milind and the enterprising Pawan Negi played him confidently.

Earlier, Baroda sent Hardik in at one drop with instructions to play out the 20 overs. He kept going as wickets fell at the other end. He chose Akash Sudan’s fourth over to shift gear. The Delhi youngster, playing in his second T20 game, ran in hard but was smashed all around the ground. The crowd roared in delight as 39 runs (6, 4-byes, 6 off no-ball, 4 off free-hit, 6, 6, 6) came off that over.

Both Delhi and Baroda have qualified for the knockout phase of the tournament.

MP down Assam

Venkatesh Iyer struck three sixes in a display of clean hitting to help Madhya Pradesh defeat Assam. The all-rounder smashed one four and five sixes in his 44 (off 24 balls), as Madhya Pradesh chased down the target of 138 in 19.4 overs with five wickets in hand.

The victory helped Madhya Pradesh to third place with 16 points.

In another match, Goa defeated Andhra by nine wickets.

>Delhi beat Barda (Full Scoreboard)

>MP beat Assam (Full Scoreboard)

>Goa beat Andhra (Full Scoreboard)