Irfan Pathan shines again as Baroda beat Madhya Pradesh

Vadodra, Jan 7: Skipper Irfan Pathan continued with his exemplary showing with an unbeaten 27-run blitz and a 4-wicket haul to help Baroda thrash a hapless Madhya Pradesh by 53 runs in the Group C Twenty match of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy here today.

Irfan stars for Baroda

Put into bat at the Reliance Stadium, Baroda rode on Hardik Pandya's 48 and Irfan's 12-ball stormy stay at the wicket to post a challenging 181 for five in 20 overs.

Irfan then turned up with the ball to help pack MP for 128 in 16.4 overs. On the batting front, it was Irfan's late strike that provided the perfect finish to an innings, which was built on a solid top-order effort.

Opener Kedar (31) and Mrunal Devdhar (33) gave the team a good 65-run start with one-down Pandya, hitting four fours and two sixes in his 31-ball knock, adding to the MP misery.

Left-arm spinner Ankit Sharma bagged two wickets. Pace spearhead Irfan then rattled the MP top-order to never allow their chase to take shape as Harpreet Singh Bhatia (52) stood amidst ruins as the rest of the batting just fell apart. Off-spinner Soaeb Tai picked three wickets, while Rishi Arothe bagged two scalps.

Brief Scores: Baroda 181/5 in 20 overs (Hardik Pandya 48, Mrunal Devdhar 33; Ankit Sharma 2-34) Madhya Pradesh 128 all out in 16.4 overs (Harpreet Singh Bhatia 52; Irfan Pathan 4-34) Points: Baroda 4, Madhya Pradesh 0.

PTI