Captain Parthiv Patel hit a fluent 82 as Gujarat defeated Baroda by eight runs to record their third straight victory in the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 Tournament at the Motera 'A' Ground here.
The last-minute resistance from Irfan Pathan, who hit a quick-fire 32, was wasn't enough for Baroda, who fell short of the target of 171 in a West Zone leg match of the tournament late last night.
Batting first, Gujarat reached a competitive 170-6 in 20 overs. Besides Parthiv's half-century, decorated with seven fours and five sixes, veteran southpaw Niraj Patel chipped in with a 28-ball 31.
The experienced duo shared an 111-run third-wicket partnership after the home team lost opener Asad Pathan (6) and No. 3 batsman Manpreet Juneja (1) cheaply.
Parthiv was caught by Kedar Devdhar off the bowling of Aditya Waghmode. His departure was followed by three more wickets in a space of four balls as Gujarat slipped to 131-6 from a comfortable 122-2.
However, Jesal Karia and Rakesh Dhruv contributed unbeaten 18 and 20 to take Gujarat to 170-6. Left-arm spinner Bhargav Bhatt took three wickets for Baroda.
The regular fall of wickets hindered Baroda's chase and they were finally bowled out for 162 in 20 overs. Apart from Irfan Pathan, Ambati Rayudu and Devdhar (both 28 runs) made useful contributions.
For Gujarat, pacer Mehul Patel took four wickets.
With this win, Gujarat have reached the top of the table with 12 points, followed by Saurashtra with eight points but with a match in hand.
Baroda are in third position with four points, while Mumbai and Maharashtra are yet to open their accounts.
