A FINE batting show from captain Akshay Wadkar, an all-round performance from Rajneesh Gurbani and a two-wicket first over burst by Abhijeet Piprode helped AG Nagpur storm into final of the IA & AD West Zone T20 Cricket Tournament being played at the Jaipuria Cricket Academy ground in Jaipur. In the first semi-final, AG Nagpur defeated AG Rajasthan by six runs. In the summit clash to be played on Friday, AG Nagpur will face AG Rajkot who beat AG Raipur by 20 runs in the second semi-final. Asked to bat first, AG Nagpur rode on half centuries from wicketkeeper-skipper Wadkar and medium pacer Gurbani to put up a challenging 157 for eight in 20 overs. AG Nagpur lost opener Akshay Kolhar on the fourth delivery of their innings. A couple of overs later R Sanjay too perished leaving Nagpur reeling at 17-2 by the fourth over. However, captain Wadkar took the mettle and scored a brisk 54 from 43 deliveries even though Nagpur kept on losing wickets around him. Wadkar’s important knock had seven boundaries and a couple of sixes.

 

Azhar Sheikh (11) and Dharmender Ahlawat (17) could not convert their starts and it was left to Gurbani to resurrect the innings. The former Vidarbha Ranji pacer, who had slammed a 20-ball 60 in Nagpur’s second outing against Bhopal, once again showed his batting prowess as he hit four boundaries and as many maximums to remain unbeaten on 51 from 25 deliveries. For Rajasthan, Mohit Jain was the main wicket-taker with four scalps. Defending the total, medium pacer Piprode gave AG Nagpur early breakthrough as he snared two wickets in his first over, three balls apart. The two-wicket burst put Rajasthan under tremendous pressure. Captain Arjit Gupta (60) and Rahul Tomar (59) frustrated Nagpur with a 106 runs partnership for the third wicket but spinner Aditya Sarvate separated them sending the former back to the pavilion caught by Gurbani. The middle-order and tail crumbled in front of Nagpur’s bowling attack with R Sanjay, Lalit Yadav chipping-in in time. Gurbani then took three wickets, two of which came in his third over, as Rajasthan reached 151 for nine in 20 overs.