Tripura struggled with the bat as openers Samrat Sutradhar and Srindam Paul failed to provide a solid start. Skipper Mandeep Singh stood out as the lone warrior, crafting a fighting half-century off 40 balls to take his team to a modest total of 109/9. Baroda’s chase began steadily, but Ninad Rathwa fell to Saurabh Das in the fourth over, and Shivalik Sharma couldn’t make an impact either. However, the game turned decisively when Hardik Pandya stepped in, delivering a blistering performance. His explosive 28-run over against Sultan sealed Baroda’s second consecutive win.
The carnage unfolded in the 10th over. On the first delivery, Sultan bowled a fuller ball outside off, which Pandya judged perfectly, and smashed square of long-off for a six. The bowler regained some composure with a dot ball on the next delivery but quickly lost ground. Repeating the same mistake, Sultan delivered another full ball outside off, and this time, Pandya hit it even harder, launching it into the second tier over long-off. The carnage continued as Pandya sent the third ball, a full delivery, soaring over deep mid-wicket for yet another six. The fourth delivery brought some luck for Sultan, as Pandya mistimed his shot, resulting in a thick outside edge that raced to the third-man boundary for four. Frustration was visible on Sultan’s face as he prepared for the final ball, but it only got worse. A slot delivery was met with a monstrous hit over the mid-off region for a colossal six.
Hardik Pandya was on fire again 🔥🔥
The Baroda all-rounder went berserk smashing 6⃣,6⃣,6⃣,4⃣,6⃣ in an over on his way to a whirlwind 47(23) against Tripura 🙌🙌#SMAT | @IDFCFIRSTBank
Scorecard ▶️ https://t.co/1WPFeVRTum pic.twitter.com/xhgWG63y9g— BCCI Domestic (@BCCIdomestic) November 29, 2024
