Cheteshwar Pujara Stars As Saurashtra Crush Nagaland By 97 Runs

Samarth Vyas hit a breezy 97 while Test specialist Cheteshwar Pujara struck a 35-ball 62 as Saurashtra crushed minnows Nagaland by 97 runs in a Group D match of the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 Trophy in Indore on Friday. Sent in to bat, Vyas and Pujara shared quick 124 runs for the second wicket to lay the foundation for Saurashtra's total of 203 for 5. While Vyas decorated his innings with seven boundaries and as many sixes, Pujara struck nine fours and had two hits over the fence. Akash Singh (2/30) and Imliwati Lemtur (2/30) shared four wickets between them for Nagaland.

Nagaland were never in the hunt in their chase as they lost wickets at regular intervals to be reduced to 39 for 4 in 9.3 overs.

Wicket-keeper batter Chetan Bist (33) and Rongsen Jonathan (22) added 52 runs for the fifth wicket but it was not enough as Nagaland scored 106 for 5 in their allotted 20 overs.

In another Group D match, Himchal Pradesh defeated Bihar by 29 runs.

Asked to bat, HP made 179 for 7 but Bihar failed to chase down the target, managing 150 for 6.

Gujarat defeated Baroda by two wickets in another Group D match.

Krunal Pandya top-scored for Baroda with a 38-ball 57 before being bowled out for 153.

In reply, Gujarat chased down the target, reaching 156 for 8 in 19.6 overs.

Brief Scores: Saurashtra 203 for 5 in 20 overs (Samarth Vyas 97, Chestehwar Pujara 62; Akash Singh 2/30) vs Nagaland 106 for 5 in 20 overs (Chetan Bist 33; Yuvraj Chudasama 1/12).

Himachal Pradesh 179 for 7 in 20 overs (Sumeet Verma 50; Ashutosh Aman 2/33) vs Bihar 150 for 6 in 20 overs (Sakibul Gani 48, Bipin Saurabh 40; Vaibhav Arora 3/34).

Baroda 153 all out in 20 overs (Krunal Pandya 57; Arzan Nagwaswalla 2/24) vs Gujarat 156 for 8 in 20 overs (Priyank Panchal 44;