ROYAL Cricket Association (RCA) will lock horns with Yavatmal in final of the maiden Guzder League T20 at Central Railways ground in Ajni on Wednesday morning. In the semi-finals, RCA shocked title favourites SRG Sports Academy by four wickets while Yavatmal got the better of Chandrapur by seven wickets to set up the summit clash. CAPTAIN’S KNOCK FROM KESHAV CAPTAIN Keshav Chandra hit a timely half-century as RCA stunned high-flying SGR Sports Academy by four wickets. Chasing 169 from 20 overs at Central Railways ground in the morning match, RCA achieved the target with four wickets in hand and two balls to spare. RCA had a sedate start to their chase as they put up 27 runs for the opening wicket. Keshav, who slammed 31-ball 63 coming in at Number 3, hit three huge sixes and seven boundaries. He and opener Rehan Batra (15) added 43 runs from 29 deliveries for the second wicket to keep the chase under control. Keshav, who has been knocking important runs in the season, added another 43 from for the fourth wickets from 22 deliveries with Deepesh Vaswani (17) to take their score near the target. Despite a little blip, Pravesh Asudani kept his calm and hit an unbeaten 29 runs to see RCA through. Earlier, Arvy Patel took three wickets while Asudani chipped in with two as RCA restricted SGR Sports Academy at 168. Anant Shukla (30), Jai Jaiswal (24), Aditya Dhakulkar (27*) and Siddharth Gupta (31*) were the notable scorers for SGR but they could not convert their starts as RCA took wickets at regular intervals.

 

LAKHULE STARS FOR YAVATMAL Rohidas Lakhule slammed a match-winning 92 to help chase-masters Yavatmal thrash Chandrapur by seven wickets in the second semi-final. This was Lakhule’s second half century after a fine 66 against PHCA in quarter-finals. Yavatmal have won seven out of eight matches while chasing this tournament. On Tuesday, Yavatmal restricted Chandrapur to 139 in 19.5 overs and then knocked off the required runs in just 11.1 overs. Chandrapur never looked in control and lost wickets at regular intervals. Opener Bharat Yadav (25), Amol Barapatre (30) and Ganesh Kodmalwar (20) scored runs but failed to score big in the last four battle. Yavatmal bowlers were disciplined. The team used seven bowlers and Giridhar Hatmode took two while the remaining six chipped in with a wicket each. In reply, opener Lakhule carried his bat through and hit rival bowlers with disdain slamming an unbeaten 92 to see his side through with any trouble. In his just under an hour stay in the middle (57 minutes), Lakhule cracked nine huge sixes and five boundaries from 41 deliveries. Lakhule and Harsheet Raut (19) put up 66 runs from 27 deliveries for the opening wicket. After Raut’s departure, Lakhule was joined by Ritesh Shamawar (23) and the two added 51 from 23 balls.