SARIK Khan and Preshit Chitale excelled with the willow hitting quick fifties for their respective sides — ADVCA Akola and SGR-MSDCA in the ongoing Masters Cup on Saturday. Opting to bat at SB City College Cricket Ground, ADVCA piled 189-5 in stipulated 100 balls against Nagpur Indians. Number three Khan (70; 34b, 11x4, 1x6) was ably supported by opener Amol Thawari (61 retd; 38b, 11x4) and added 101 runs for the second wicket before the former got out. For Nagpur Indians, Janvee Bishnoi (2-26) took to wickets while Pravin Chavhan and Mahendra picked one each. Nagpur Indians had a disastrous start and none of their top four batters could reach the double digit score. Number 7 Ritesh Purkam (24; 14b, 5x4) and No 8 skipper Raju Kanhere (23; 18b, 3x4, 1x6) gave some respectability to the total as the team reached 112-9 going down by 77 runs. SGR-MSDCA defeated Nobel Sports Academy by 53 runs. Put into bat, SGR made 168-8.

 

The pair of Chitale (54; 28b, 1x4, 5x6) and Wasim Shaikh (43; 30b, 5x4, 1x6) added 63 runs for fifth wicket to help the team set a competitive target. For Nobel, Deepak Jain, captain Dhiraj Nagdeote and Pritam all snared two wickets each while Rahul Thamke chipped in with one. Nobel never looked in the hunt as they lost wickets regularly and were bundled out for 115 in 84 balls. Sachin Patil top-scored with 20-ball 23. SGR-MSDCA captain Abhijit Admane (3-20) returned with the best figures and was well-supported by Pritam and Wasim who took two each. Rupesh Malwar, Chitale and Raja Khan picked one apiece.

 

In another match, Hanuman Vyayam Prasarak Mandal (HVPM) Amravati beat AD XI by 43 runs. Asked to take first strike, HVPM were restricted to 130-8. Nikhil Gupta (26; 13b, 3x4, 1x6), skipper Shivaji Mohite (35; 32b, 4x4) and Rahul Chikhalkar (29; 20b, 4x4, 1x6) were the main contributors. AD XI’s Surendra Saini and Ram Masurkar chipped in with two wickets each while Natwar Jaiswal, Hemant Bagwe and Gaurav Acharya picked one wicket apiece. Avinash Pawar’s three-wicket burst for HVPM that included scalps of both openers for nought completely derailed the chase for AD XI. Allhad Lokhande, Pavan Deshmukh with a pair each and, Sameer Pachkawade and Aalhad Ingole with one wicket apiece shot out for 87 in 78 balls. Number 8 Sonu Aradhey top-scored with 17 for the losing team.