Prerit inspires Orange to win

 

 

 

A SUPERB all-round effort by Prerit Agrawal helped Team Orange thump Team Red by eight wickets in their rain-curtailed match of Twenty20 cricket tournament organised by VCA at Jamtha Stadium on Monday. Put into bat Red, who had scored ten-wicket win on Sunday, made a sub score of 131-7 in 20 overs. With rains intervening, the revised target set for Orange was 113 in 16 overs which they reached in 12.5 overs losing two wickets. In-form Red openers Akshay Kolhar (37; 31b, 6x4) and Aman Mokhade (41; 38b, 4x4, 1x6) gave the team yet another solid start adding 84 runs in 11.2 overs. At that same score both fell to the guiles of left-arm spinner Agrawal (4-0-38-3). The bowler scalped big fish in skipper Jitesh Sharma for four soon. Within four runs the team had lost the top three batters. Orange bowlers took advantage of the situation and did not let the opponent score at a brisk rate. Himanshu Joshi was unbeaten on 16-ball 15 while Vaibhav Chandekar scored run a ball ten. Pacer Praful Hinge snared two for 30 while offie Abhishek Chourasai chipped in with a wicket for 23 runs.

 

Orange captain-opener Siddhesh Wath slammed four fours in his 11-ball 18. But the team lost Wath and new man Adhyayan Daga for nought as pacer Swapnil Bandiwar (2-1-10-2) took two in two. Southpaw Agrawal (53*; 32b, 6x4, 2x6) and big-hitter Apoorv Wankhade (42*; 33b, 3x4, 1x6) played shots all over the park and accumulated all the required runs. Agrawal was named man of the match for his double role. Sanjay, Jangid shine in Sky Blue victory R SANJAY’S half century and his superb opening partnership with skipper Mohit Kale provided a solid platform as Team Sky Blue eked out a seven-wicket victory over Team Blue on penultimate ball of the match. Set to make 136 in 18 overs, Sky Blue reached the target losing three wickets with one ball to spare. Opting to bat, Blue middle-order batters skipper Shalabh Shrivastava (23), Satyam Bhoyar (34) and Kushal Pimpalkar (22) got starts but could not build on those and the team was limited to 135-7 in 18 overs. Left-arm orthodox Ravi Jangid returned with an excellent figures of 4-0-12-3. He sent back three of the top four Blue batters. Jangid was ably supported by Gaurav Dhoble (2-37) and Sanmesh Deshmukh (2-27). Sanjay (52; 41b, 2x4, 3x6) and Kale (45*; 37b, 6x4) took the score to 89 in 11.1 overs when the latter had to retire hurt. Sanjay was out to Satyam Bhoyar (4-0-31-2). Man of the match Jangid made 13 from as many balls before Kushal Pimpalkar disturbed his furniture. Sourabh Thubrikar was out lbw on the first ball but Dhoble (16*; 9b, 3x4) and big-hitter Rushabh Rathod (8; 6b, 1x4) ensured victory in the end.