Mumbai: Defending champions Gujarat opened the Super League Syed Mushtaq Ali Twenty20 tournament with a flourish at MCA’s Bandra Kurla Complex ground here on Friday, handing out an eight-wicket thrashing to Delhi.
Delhi rode on Unmukt Chand’s 58-ball 103 in the morning to post a challenging of 170/5 but Gujarat overhauled the target with 14 balls to spare. Priyank Panchal (69 not out) led the way while skipper Parthiv Patel (46) and Manpreet Juneja (38) set up an easy chase.
Delhi, unbeaten in the initial league, lost a couple of quick wickets in skipper Gautam Gambhir and Dhruv Shorey only to see Unmukt and Aditya Kaushik (23) stitch a half-century stand.
Unmukt blasted eight fours and five sixes and became only the third Indian batsman to score three T20 centuries. But his knock went in vain as Delhi’s inexperienced bowling failed to stand up on the day.
Later on the same ground Uttar Pradesh thrashed a hapless Jharkhand by nine wickets. Jharkhand could muster just 133/7 with contributions from Shasheem Rathour (40) and Saurabh Tiwary (38). Medium pacer Amit Mishra (2/14) kept it tight with the ball.
UP reached the target with 19 balls to spare.
In Group A clashes at Wankhede, Baroda and Mumbai also had a field day. Baroda rode on an unbeaten 86 from Hardik Pandya to register a six-wicket win over Vidarbha.
Chasing 163, Baroda had lost the plot at 84/4 in 13th over when Yusuf Pathan was dismissed for 14. But Pandya’s big hitting in company of skipper Irfan Pathan helped finish the match, his eighth six being the winning hit.
Earlier, Vidarbha scored 162/5. Hosts Mumbai defeated Kerala by six wickets.
Scores
Group A: At Wankhede: Vidarbha 162/5 in 20 overs (Jitesh Sharma 35, Ganesh Satish 54, Apoorv Wankhede 40; Swapnil Singh 2/41) lost to Baroda 168/4 in 19 overs (Hardik Pandya 86 not out; Ravi Jangid 2/36)
Kerala 160/7 in 20 overs (Rohan Prem 69, Sachin Baby 32; Sagar Trivedi 3/34) lost to Mumbai 164/4 in 19.1 overs (Aditya Tare 71, Abhishek Nayar 38 not out; U. Manukrishnan 2/36)
Group B: At BKC: Delhi 170/5 in 20 overs (Unmukt Chand 103, Aditya Kaushik 23; Hardik Patel 1/27, R.P. Singh 1/29) lost to Gujarat 171/2 in 17.3 overs (Priyank Panchal 68 not out, Parthiv Patel 42; Parvinder Awana 1/23).
Jharkhand 133/7 in 20 overs (Shasheem Rathour 40, Saurabh Tiwary 38; Amit Mishra 2/14) lost to Uttar Pradesh 134/1 in 16.5 overs (Samarth Singh 64, Prashant Gupta 42 not out, Suresh Raina 20 not out)
