CAPTAIN Akshay Wadkar played a superb knock to help his side Navniketan Cricket Club beat All India Reporter (AIR) by five wickets in the ongoing Guzder League A Division T20 Tournament at Vidarbha Cricket Association’s Civil Lines ground, on Friday.

In an exciting match, Wadkar slammed 56 runs from 41 deliveries as Navniketan chased down the target of 149 runs in 19.5 overs. Wadkar’s knock had three boundaries and as many sixes.

Chasing the target, Navniketan were in a spot of bother with their top four batsmen back in hut for 65 runs in the sixth over. But the wicketkeeper-batsman Wadkar first added 35 runs with Yash Kadam for the fourth wicket and then joined hands with Akshay Karnewar (18) to put up 58 runs for the fifth wicket. After Wadkar’s departure, Karnewar and Varun Paldunkar (9) scored 29 runs from 16 deliveries to take their side to the shores.

For AIR, spinner skipper Ravi Jangid took three wickets.

Earlier, AIR posted 148 for seven from 20 overs. Lower order bat Devendra Tarulia top scored with 32 runs from 27 balls while Jangid and Kunjal Patel scored identical 25 runs each.

For Navniketan, Karnewar and Abhishek Gupta took two wickets each.

In another match, Ministerial Services Sports Club (MSS) defeated Eleven Star by five wickets. Senior batsman Shalabh Shrivastava top scored for Eleven Star with 33-ball 40 runs as they posted 174 for seven in 20 overs. Opener Sachin Shende (38), Adhyayan Daga (27) and Yash Rathod (28) were the other notable scorers for Eleven Star. For MSSC, Akshay Wakhare took three wickets while Hardik Varma took two.

In reply, MSSC got off to a great start with Mandar Mahale and captain Akshay Kolhar stitching 59 runs for the opening wicket. Mahale slammed 40 from 32 deliveries with the help of three sixes while Kolhar posted 19-ball 34 which had six boundaries.

A poor batting in the middle put MSSC in a spot of bother but Suraj Rai slammed a fine half century (50) from 20 deliveries to see his side record a five wickets win. Rai’s unbeaten knock had four boundaries and equal number of sixes.