Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy: Baroda holds edge over UP in T20 final

Mumbai With their superior allround strength Baroda appear to hold a slight edge over unbeaten Uttar Pradesh and seem wellpoised to grab their third Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy when the two teams clash under lights in the final of the domestic T20 competition here todayBaroda have lost two games out of 9 in the competition to Delhi in the Preliminary League stage and then to Kerala in the Super League this season while UP have won all their 8 matches thus far But mantoman Baroda seem to hold the advantage over their rivals in both batting and bowling in the summit contest at the Wankhede StadiumAll rounders Hardik Pandya who will leave for Australia on January 22 to join the Indian team ahead of the T20 series Down Under and India discard Irfan Pathan the team skipper have been in the forefront of Barodas campaign Pandya has shone more with the bat amassing 364 runs including two whirlwind sixhitting knocks against Delhi and Vidarbha while also grabbing nine wickets in nine gamesLefthanded Pathan on the other hand has impressed more with the ball by grabbing 16 wickets in nine games in which he has totalled 190 runs Both these players have been crucial to the progress of Baroda who however would expect a bit more from two other allrounders Deepak Hooda and Yusuf Pathan Both have failed to prosper so farBaroda champions in 201112 and 201314 also have a capable spinner in Bhargav Bhatt and give the appearance of a wellbalanced outfit UPs batting has been a bit inconsistent with Eklavya Dwivedi being the most impressive of the lot with an aggregate of 258 runs in 8 games at 64 per inningsPrashant Gupta and Samarth Singh have been the other two batsmen among the runs but the big disappointment has been Australiabound T20 specialist Suresh Raina who has made just 111 runs in five games with 28 as his highestThe lefthander will be required to fire big if UP who have never won the title are to upset Barodas bid to regain the trophy after the gap of one season In bowling while experienced former India legspinner Piyush Chawla has been the standout performer 15 wickets in 8 games the crafty Praveen Kumar 5 wickets in 7 another national discard has not done as much as was expectedPraveen has been outshone by Ankit Rajpoot 11 wickets in 8 UP would thus be hoping that their misfiring key players Raina and Praveen have reserved their best for the tournament finale that commences at 630 PM UP captain Raina who has not been in the best of touch so far said he was keen to do well before boarding theflight to Australia to join the national team for the T20 Internationals beginning Down Under next weekPersonally its important for me to play well here before going to Australia and I am looking forward to do well tomorrow I have seen the three ODI games they India have played against Australia and lost But the T20 team is different he saidHe was referring to the departure of himself Pandya and three other senior cricketers Yuvraj Singh Harbhajan Singh and Ashish Nehra who will board the flight to Australia They Indian team members in Australia must be looking forward to our arrival Over the whole of the next four months we will play T20 People think its easy to play Twenty20 but the intensity and energy is huge You have to play big shots You have to practice a lot Practice makes a lot of difference he remarkedTalking about the final between Baroda and UP Raina said playing under lights in cooler windy conditions would help the seam bowlers to swing the ball Luckily we had won all three tosses in league stage but tomorrow it will be different challenge and I am looking forward to a good competition The team that panics will loseIts a night game and the ball will swing It will be good for seamers We have good bowlers in PK Praveen Kumar Amit Mishra Ankit Rajpoot Our spinners Piyush Chawla and Kuleep Yadav have also bowled well he said Not many players in our team have played much under lights even in IPL Thats why we practiced under lights today he addedIrfan Pathan said UP will provide a tough challenge UP has a fantastic team Suresh Raina has been one of the prolific runscorers in T20 cricket And there are other guys like Praveen Kumar and Piyush Chawla and a lot of other young cricketers as well who are doing well so Its a pretty even contest tomorrowI believe that in the final who ever hits the mark really well and executes their plans well will be the champion team said the Baroda skipper It means a lot to me and everyone in the team to be here in the final For me personally it means probably everything because this is the highest level of cricket at the moment I am playing Everyone wants to go one step ahead I want to do that as well this match tomorrow will mean a lot to me the 31yearold allrounder added