VADODARA: Left-arm pacer Lukman Meriwala's fifer was the cornerstone of Baroda's thumping nine-wicket win over Chhattisgarh in an Elite Group C match of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy T20 tournament here on Thursday.
Put in to bat at the F B Colony ground, Chhattisgarh were bundled out for just 90 runs as the Baroda bowlers, led by Meriwala (5/8), wreaked havoc on the visiting batsmen.
Meriwala was ably supported by off-spinner Kartik Kakade (2/17) and left-arm spinners Krunal Pandya (1/20) and Ninad Rathwa (1/16) as they never allowed the opposition batsmen to settle down.
For Chhattisgarh, opener and wicket-keeper Shashank Chandrakar top-scored with a 20, as the rest of his batting colleagues fell cheaply.
They lost half their side for 54 and their innings never really got going.
The chase was a walk in the park for Baroda, despite losing opener Ninad Rathwa (0) early.
Experienced Kedar Devdhar (44 not out; 7x4) and one-down Vishnu Solanki (42 not out; 5x4, 1x6) forged an unbeaten 86-run second wicket stand as they tore into a listless Chhattisgarh attack and took their side home in just 12.3 overs.
This was Baroda's third win in the league stage, having earlier defeated Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand in the first two games.
Brief Scores: At F B Colony Ground: Chhattisgarh 90 all out (Shashank Chandrakar 20; L Meriwala 5/8, Kartik Kakade 2/17) lost to Baroda 91/1 (Kedar Devdhar 44 not out, Vishnu Solanki 42 not out; Sourabh Majumdar 1/12) by nine wickets.
At Motibaug ground: Himachal Pradesh 141/5 (Rishi Dhawan 43, Digvijay Rangi 35 not out; Axar Patel 1/16) beat Gujarat 115 all out (Piyush Chawla 39; Vaibhav Arora 3/16, Pankaj Jaiswal 2/19) by 26 runs.
At Reliance ground: Maharashtra 141/4 (Kedar Jadhav 61, Azmi Kazi 31 not out; Dikshanshu Negi 1/18) lost to Uttarakhand 145/4 (Jay Bista 69 not out, Dikshanshu Negi 23; Divyang Himganekar 1/11) by six wickets.