Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2016 Final Review: Uttar Pradesh topple Baroda to emerge as champions

Uttar Pradesh are crowned as the new champions of the Syed Mushtaq Ali 2016 after they comprehensively beat two-time champions Baroda by 38 runs in a lopsided title clash at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai.

After being put into bat, Uttar Pradesh openers had a decent stand of 37 runs for the first wicket before Samarth Singh (19 from 13 balls) was clean bowled by Hardik Pandya. Uttar Pradesh did not suffer any immediate setback as Prashant Gupta and Suresh Raina shared a 60 runs partnership. The duo took Uttar Pradesh to a commanding position at the halfway stage of the first innings. But, Baroda soon found the breakthrough after left-arm spinner Bhargav Bhatt trapped Prashant Gupta (49 from 41 balls) leg before.

The Baroda spinner struck again in the same over after he removed the in-form Eklavya Dwivedi for a second ball duck. Piyush Chawla (17 from 13 balls) and Umang Sharma (12 from 6 balls) contributed valuable runs towards the end of the innings. Suresh Raina was unmovable and anchored the Uttar Pradesh innings till the last ball. The premier T20 specialist remained not out at the score of 47 runs off 37 balls as Uttar Pradesh ended with 163 for seven on the scoreboard after 20 overs.

Bhargav Bhatt (2/13) was the most successful bowler for Baroda while Irfan Pathan, Hardik Pandya and Soaeb Tai also snapped up one wicket each.

The target was challenging but was achievable by the way Baroda performed this season. The sibling pair of Kedar Devdhar and Mrunal Devdhar gave Baroda a breezy start. Kedar, in particular, was very aggressive and went after the Uttar Pradesh bowlers right from the word go. But his fireworks were short-lived as he lost his wicket to Ankit Rajpoot in the 2nd over just after hitting him for three boundaries on the trot.

The star of the Baroda batting lineup this season, Hardik Pandya was a surprise failure today. Pandya, who will leave for Australia to join the Indian team for the T20 series Down Under, a couple of days later looked fluent but was foxed by Chinaman Kuldeep Yadav in the 8th over. The all-rounder was in outstanding form in the tournament and ended the tournament as the top run-getter with 364 runs before coming to the finals.

Pandya’s departure put a brake on the run rate completely. Deepak Hooda (15 from 15 balls) and Yusuf Pathan (14 from 27 balls) were at the crease but were kept under pressure by the spin bowling pair of Piyush Chawla and Kuldeep Yadav. The required run rate kept rising and wickets also kept falling frequently. Baroda did not show any signs of recovery after the loss of Pandya.

Every Baroda batsman got starts but none could convert it into a match-winning performance. The consistency was lacking and eventually, they could accumulate only 125 runs for the loss of seven wickets after 20 overs. Thus, losing the match by 25 runs.

Yadav who finished with match-defining figures 2/12 also deserves full credit for the victory. Piyush Chawla (0/16) was wicketless but impacted the match by bowling miserly while Amit Mishra (3/30) was the highest wicket-taker for UP.  This win was a kind of revenge as Baroda had previously beaten Uttar Pradesh in the 2013/14 season finals to clinch the trophy.

Brief Scores:

Uttar Pradesh – 163/7 in 20 overs (P Gupta 49, S Raina 47; A Bhatt 2/13)

Baroda – 125/7 in 20 overs (S Tai 26*; A Rajpoot 3/30)

UP beat Baroda by 38 runs.

Man of the Match: Suresh Raina (UP)