Mumbai: Raiphi Vincent Gomez's and P. Prasanth's heroics helped Kerala pull off a thrilling four-wicket win over Baroda in a Group A Super League match of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy Twenty20 Championship here on Saturday.
Raiphi's 21-ball unbeaten 47 and Prasanth's cameo - 17 not out off 7 balls – took Kerala past the target of 161 with two balls to spare at the Wankhede Stadium.
Raiphi's knock contained three fours and as many sixes, while Prasanth smashed two sixes off the penultimate over of the match bowled by former Indian pacer Munaf Patel to turn the tide in Kerala's favour.
Earlier, Irfan Pathan and Munaf wrecked the Kerala top-order and reduced them to 15/3 in the fifth over. Left-arm pacer Irfan removed two of Kerala's biggest hopes – Sanju V. Samson (0) and Rohan Prem (6) – while Munaf accounted for opener V. A. Jagadeesh (1). Irfan (2/14) finished his quote of four overs in an unchanged opening spell.
Captain Sachin Baby (44) and Nikhilesh Surendran (36) added 59 runs for the fourth wicket to put the chase back on track before the late charge by Raiphi and Prasanth.
Irfan had earlier starred with the willow too as his quickfire unbeaten 35 (18b, 3x4, 2x6) propelled Baroda to 160/6 after put in to bat. Deepak Hooda (32) and Kedar Devdhar (31) too shone with the bat.
Left-arm spinner Prasanth was the pick of the Kerala bowlers with figures of 2/15. Prasanth removed big-hitter Hardik Pandya and Devdhar.
Basil Thampi went for 21 runs in his final over as lusty blows by Irfan took Baroda to 160.
Later in the day, Mumbai beat Vidarbha by five wickets to notch up their second successive win. They lead Group A with eight points from two matches followed by Baroda and Kerala (four points each). Vidarbha are yet to open their aaccount.
Uttar Pradesh outplayed defending champions Gujarat by seven wickets, while Delhi thrashed Jharkhand by five wickets in Group B fixtures.
UP are leading the group with eight points from two games, followed by Gujarat and Delhi (four points each). Jharkhand have lost their both matches.
Kerala take on Vidarbha in their final Super League game on Monday, while Baroda clash with Mumbai.
The respective Super League group winners will meet in the final to be played on Wednesday.
Brief scores: Baroda 160/6 in 20 overs (Irfan Pathan 35 not out; P. Prasanth 2/15) lost to Kerala 164/6 in 19.4 overs (Raiphi Vincent Gomez 47 not out, Sachin Baby 44; Irfan Pathan 2/14).