MUMBAI: Raiphi Gomez smashed an unbeaten 47 off 21 balls with three sixes and as many fours to guide Kerala to a shock four-wicket victory over two-time former champions Baroda in the Mushtaq Ali T20 tournament here.
Gomez’s whirlwind, unbroken partnership of 45 off just 17 balls for the seventh wicket with Prashanth Padmanabhan, who remained not out on 17 after hitting two successive sixes off Munaf Patel in the 19th over, enabled Kerala to chase down Baroda’s total of 160 for 6 with two balls to spare, at the Wankhede Stadium.
Kerala’s first win in two games in Super League Group A, after the loss to hosts Mumbai in the opener on Friday, has kept their hopes of topping the group alive while Baroda suffered their first defeat in two games.
Earlier, Baroda built their innings on opener Kedar Devdhar’s slow 31, Deepak Hooda’s 32 in 16 balls and Irfan’s 35 not out off 18 balls to put up a challenging score. They scored 69 runs off their last five overs, thanks to the Hooda-Irfan assault. Kerala’s Prashanth impressed with a haul of 2 for 15.