Experienced Umesh Yadav and Tejas Soni took three wickets each as Nagpur Heroz handed Pagariya Strikers their first defeat of season in the Vidarbha Premier League at VCA's Jamtha Stadium on Thursday evening. Chasing 220, Pagariya Strikers scored 185-9 thus losing the game by 34 runs.This was Nagpur Heroz's second win of the tournament.Pagariya opener Faiz Sheikh was the only batter to hold the fort with 76 runs.His knock included seven boundaries and six maximums.Pushpak Gujar scored 36 before he got retired hurt. Earlier, Pagariya Strikers’ Sanskar Chavate bowled a sensational opening spell to push Nagpur Heroz on the backfoot initially but they still managed to post a challenging 219-8. The right-handed pacer took three wickets in his two overs to rattle Heroz’s top order.

 

However, Pagariya Strikers lost the plot from there on as Siddhant Muley (57) and Kartik Rathod (66) added a counter-attacking 120 runs for the fifth wicket and then hard-hitter Apoorv Wankhade slammed a 20-ball 60 to take their total past 200-run mark. Apart from Chavate, last match’s hero Lalit Yadav, too, made an immediate impact taking the wicket of Parth Rekhade as Strikers reached 32-4 in four overs. Muley and Rathod did the repair job for Nagpur Heroz from there on with an important partnership for the fifth wicket. Rathod played a counter-attacking game hitting Swapnil Singh for a couple of sixes and a boundary. He completed his half century from 28 deliveries which had four boundaries and three sixes. Muley gave him company and took pressure off him hitting occasional sixes as the innings looked to slipping away from Strikers’ grip. He completed his 50 with a huge six off R Sanjay pulling the delivery towards mid-wicket fence. Wankhade, the costliest buy of the season, the unleashed his brute power hitting eight sixes and a boundary to make the contest an exciting one.