SMAT20: Solanki blitz helps Baroda enter semi-finals
The Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 tournament is nearing its business end. And, in the third quarterfinal encounter between Haryana and Baroda on Wednesday, Baroda’s Vishnu Solanki delivered a thunderous performance with the willow that he will remember for a long time.
Baroda won the toss and decided to field first and then reduced Haryana to 25/2, with both their openers back in the pavilion. That is when the duo of Himanshu Rana and Shivam Chauhan came together to put on an 80-run partnership for the third wicket as Haryana finished with a fighting total of 148/7 in their allotted 20 overs.
In reply, the Baroda side lost opener Smit Patel with the scorecard reading 33. Vishnu Solanki joined his skipper Kedar Devdhar in the middle. The two batsmen were involved in a sedate 68-run stand before Sumit Kumar removed Devdhar. And, when the final over of the innings began, Baroda still needed 18 runs for victory.
Solanki finishes the match in typical Dhoni style
The first 3 balls of the final over resulted in just 3 runs, the Baroda side still needed 15 runs off the last 3 deliveries, and the game was slipping away. That is when Solanki completely tore into Sumit Kumar. The fourth ball of the over sailed into the stands for six, and this was followed by a boundary off the next delivery.
That meant that Baroda needed 5 runs off the last ball. Off the final delivery, Solanki brought out the ‘Helicopter shot‘ to finish the match. To a length delivery from Kumar, Solanki got onto the front foot and brought his wrists into play as the ball was set into orbit. Baroda stormed into the semi-finals with an 8-wicket win over Haryana.
Next up, a tough challenge awaits the Baroda side as they will be up against Tamil Nadu. The Dinesh Karthik-led side went into the last four comfortably, beating Himachal Pradesh by 5 wickets with 13 balls to spare in the second quarter-final.
But as of now, it is time to celebrate a great Houdini act from the willow of Vishnu Solanki. And needless to say, MS Dhoni will be proud of the way Solanki finished the game. You can watch the video of the six below.
— Raahul Sethupathy (@iamraahul3) January 27, 2021
