• Home
  • Cricket News
  • Smat Baroda Thumps Fancied Punjab In A One Sided Affair Will Take On Tn In Final

SMAT: Baroda thumps fancied Punjab in a one-sided affair; will take on TN in final


A well-oiled unit of Baroda, inspired by captain Kedar Deaodahar’s batting and active decision making in the field, beat Punjab in a one-sided affair at the Sardar Patel Stadium in Motera to move to the finals of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2021. It was a surprise in the sense that Punjab had defeated big teams like Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh in their group with huge margins. 

Punjab couldn’t get to a start that they needed while chasing 161 as they lost two of their main batsmen Abhishek Sharma and Prabhsimran Singh, the two men that had propelled Punjab to better starts in the previous matches, were picked up cheaply by Lukman Meriwala. The rest of the players couldn’t get going either as Anmolpreet Singh and Ramandeep Singh took too many balls to settle down before getting out through forced shots. 

A major problem for Punjab occurred when their captain Mandeep Singh got injured while fielding and couldn’t bat at his usual number three position, putting a lot of o pressure on the less exposed and inexperienced middle order. It was exploited well by the Baroda bowlers especially spinner Bhargav Bhatt who choked the flow of runs in the middle overs forcing Gurkeerat Mann to take extra risks and thereby losing his wicket. Once he was out, all hopes of a Punjab revival died down and the team could manage only 135 runs in their 20 overs quota. 

Earlier in the evening, Punjab after winning the toss decided to bowl first and got a good start as Ninad Rathva and hero of the last game Vishnu Solanki was removed in the 9th over with only 58 runs on the board. The Punjab team was going strong until the players started dropping dollies as both Kedar Devdhar and Karthik Kakade were dropped very early in their innings on the bowling of Mayank Markande and Harpreet Brar respectively. Once the chances went begging, there was no coming for Punjab as Baroda raced to 160 in their 20 overs as both Devdhar and Kakade scored their fifties. 

With this win, Baroda have now made it to their fourth Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy final in 12 editions where they will play Tamil Nadu, who beat Rajasthan earlier in the day to make it to consecutive finals and their third final in total.  

Powered by Froala Editor

Discover more
Top Stories
news

Yuvraj Singh is my role model; J&K call up changed my life: Kalyan Dorjey

Ladakh’s first professional cricketer Skalzang Dorjey Kalyan is a left-arm spinner and fancies his chances with the bat as well. He has various role models in his life but with one similarity that all of them are left-hand spin bowlers who could bat as well. In an exclusive interview with OneCricket, Dorjey said that that he idolises the likes of former India cricketers Sunil Joshi, Pragyan Ojha and Yuvraj Singh alongside the great New Zealander Daniel Vettori. “I really look up to Sunil Joshi, Pragyan Ojha, Daniel Vettori and Yuvraj Singh,” he said when asked about his role models in his career. Kalyan comes from a small village Named Tukla in Ladakh and a got a chance to represent Jammu and Kashmir fo the first time when he played against the Railways in the ongoing Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. Dorjey said that his selection in the J&K team changed a lot of things in his life. “I got a lot of recognition from everywhere. It is like getting selected for India for the people in Leh and Ladakh. I have been getting a lot of support,” he said. Crediting the Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators (CoA) Chairman Vinod Rai, who also acted as the chief of BCCI for a brief period of time, Dorjey said, “Vinod Sir said a Ladakhi player can be a part of JKCA team. JKCA started scouting players in Leh. The introduction of the new format helped Ladakh cricket to get some promotion. Captain Parvez Rasool has also encouraged the cricketers and has been inspiring them.” Read the full interview here

news

Daily Round up | Jan 29: Tamil Nadu march to SMAT final, Heat knock Strikes out of BBL

Tamil Nadu reached the finals of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy by defeating Rajasthan in the semi-finals by seven wickets, while in Australia, the Brisbane Heat knocked the Adelaide Strikers out of the Big Bash competition by handing a big defeat in the eliminator. Here are the big news of the cricketing world that deserve your attention today Tamil Nadu defeat Rajasthan to reach SMAT final Tamil Nadu defeated Rajasthan by seven wickets in the first semifinal and booked a place in the final of the Syed Mushtaq Ali trophy 2021. Arun Karthik and Dinesh Karthik made light work of the chase of 155 runs after Tamil Nadu were jolted early with the new ball. Arun Karthik remained unbeaten on a 54-ball-89 while Dinesh Karthik provided a finishing touch as Rajasthan got knocked out of the competitions. Batting first, Rajasthan could muster only 154 as the right arm pacer M Mohammed scalped four wickets to derail the batting efforts by the team from northern India. Heat knock Strikes out of Big Bash 2020-21 The batting trio of Joe Denly, Joe Burns, and Jimmy Pierson batted with assurance to hand the Brisbane Heat a place in the second qualifier of the Big Bash League this year. Chasing a paltry score of 131 runs, the Heat batsmen had to assure they didn't lose wickets, and the trio kept the team in the hunt by batting with control. Earlier in the day, the leg-spinning duo of Mitchell Swepson and Marnus Labuschange clogged the Adelaide Strikers on the night of Eliminator as the men in blue could not manage to get back the momentum of the game in their favour. Nauman Ali, Yasir Shah power Pakistan to 1-0 in Karachi Pakistan defeated South Africa by seven wickets in the first Test in Karachi and took an unassailable 1-0 lead over the Proteas in the two-match Test series. Chasing a small target of 88 runs, Pakistan were off to a bad start but Babar Azam and Azhar Ali guided the team home. Fawad Alam who had scored a splendid century in the first innings to help Pakistan take the lead was adjudged man of the match. Earlier, spinners Nauman Ali and Yasir Shah made a mess of the South Africa batting line up and while the left-arm spinner finished with a fifer, leg spinner Yasir took a four-wicket haul. ICC announces match officials for India-England Test series The ICC has announced the list of match officials who will be officiating the first two Tests between India and England in Chennai. Due to covid-19 pandemic, ICC has decided to go in with the Indian umpires who are on the ICC international panel of umpires and it will give the opportunity to Nitin Menon, Virender Sharma, and Anil Chaudhary to debut in a Test match as on-field umpires. Former Indian pacer Javagal Srinath will be the match referee for the whole of the series.