By Paritosh Pramanik DOMINANT Bharat Rangers put one foot into play-offs with their fourth successive win in the Vidarbha Premier League Season 2 here at VCAs’ Jamtha International Stadium on Sunday afternoon. Chasing 179 for win, Rangers knocked off the runs with 11 balls to spare. The Atharva Taide-led Bharat Rangers d e f e a t e d N a g p u r Heroz by six wickets to consolidate their position at the top of table with h i g h e s t eight points in their kitty. Mathematically, they still need a win to confirm their berth in play-offs. Openers Taide (56; 37b, 10x4) and Danish Malewar (67*; 41b, 6x3, 3x6) laid the foundation of the win with the latter carrying his bat through scoring unbeaten 67 runs from 41 balls. The duo posted 85 runs for the opening wicket which put them in a strong position. After a few hiccups, Varun Bisht, walking in at No 6 hit a 9- ball unbeaten 33 runs with a couple of boundaries and four huge sixes to kill the match in 18.1 overs. Captain Taide started brightly hitting three fours off the first over off Rajneesh Gurbani and then smashed Umesh Yadav for a couple of fours in the second over of their innings. Taide completed his second half century of the season with two crisp boundaries off Tejas Soni.

 

He first drove the ball through covers and then pulled it through mid-wicket. His innings was cut short by a diving catch from Aman Mokhade on the edge of the circle off Siddhant Muley. They added 85 runs for the opening wicket. Malewar lowered his guard and stayed put in the middle as wickets tumbled around him. He completed his second fifty of the season by hitting Ankush Tammiwar for a four. Earlier, Bharat Rangers restricted Nagpur Heroz to a below-par total of 178-8. Spinner Mandar Ghodmare, who was later declared man of the match, gave them important breakthroughs taking three crucial wickets in the middle overs. Nagpur Heroz wouldn’t have reached 170 but for Gurbani’s nine-ball 27 which had two sixes and a boundary from the last over off Bhute. After losing captain Aman Mokhade on the first ball, Nagpur Heroz’s Parth Rekhade (46) and Tushar Suryavanshi (27) added 54 runs for the second wicket as they scored 61 runs in powerplay. Suryavanshi perished to a clever delivery from Kunal Kungwani and was caught at extra cover by Taide. Rekhade missed out on a half century after he was brilliantly caught by Jagjot Sasan at the long-on boundary.