JITESH Sharma might not have made much of an impact he wanted as an Impact Substitute but his bat did. Aryan Meshram, playing with Jitesh’s willow, cracked his third consecutive half-century as Neco Master Blasters thrashed Orange Tigers by six wickets to storm into the semi-final along with Pagariya Strikers in the Vidarbha Pro T20 League at VCA’s Jamtha Stadium on Tuesday. The second match between Nagput Heroz and Nagpur Titans was abandoned due to rain. Only six overs were possible when the rain stopped Nagpur Heroz’s innings. Both the teams got a point each and were knocked out of the semis berth. Bharat Rangers and Orange Tigers qualified as the other two teams. In the afternoon, Meshram clobbered an unbeaten 81 and along with stand-in captain R Sanjay (58; 31b, 4x4, 3x6) put up a match-winning partnership of 112 runs from 58 deliveries for the third wicket to help their side move to second spot on the sixteam table.

 

Chasing a huge 196 for a win, Neco Master Blasters once again showed immense batting power to knock of the runs with one over to spare. Meshram, who was pushed to one-down after original captain Jitesh decided to play as an Impact Player and opened their chase, continued from where he left against Nagpur Heroz and smoked five boundaries and as many sixes to see his side through once again. “I think I played with my bat when I was somewhere near 40 runs. But then I asked Jitesh Bhaiyya for his bat. It’s slightly different from mine, but to hit sixes you need power and I applied it to effect,” said Meshram after collecting his second man of the match award. R Sanjay, leading the side in place of Jitesh, slammed a timely half-century and reminded the VCA management that he is not done yet. Jitesh (31; 23b, 2x4, 3x6), who surprised all by opening the innings, did manage to blast a few boundaries and a couple of sixes. But a brilliant catch in the deep by Yash Rathod cut short his innings in the seventh over.

 

But before that Jitesh and Meshram added 50 runs for the second wicket and after the RCB stumper’s departure, R Sanjay and Meshram completed the task with a century stand. Adyam Routam did the finishing job hitting a match-winning six to seal the deal. Earlier, Orange Tigers leaped to 195 from 20 overs thanks to 83 runs from the last five overs. Sixes flew thick and fast as 10 maximums and two boundaries came in last five overs. Yash Rathod (20; 13b, 3x4) and Rohit Binkar (51; 45b, 6x4, 1x6) gave Orange Tigers perfect start putting up 45 runs for the opening wicket. Hard-hitting batter Apoorva Wankhade (19; 9, 2x4, 1x6) and Akshay Karnewar (11; 13b; 1x6) showed intent but perished going for big shots. There was a lull period till the 15th over, even though the runs kept on ticking. It started raining sixes from the 15th over when Kshitij Dahiya hit pacer Praful Hinge for two successive sixes and then hit another on the fourth ball of the over.

 

However, the bowler had the last laugh when he had Dahiya on the penultimate delivery of that over. Suryavanshi then picked part-time bowler R Sanjay for some special treatment smacking a couple of sixes and a boundary in the 17th over and the captain Darshan Nalkande freed his arms hitting a six in the 19th over off Hinge and three off Sanmesh Deshmukh as they scored 23 runs from the 20th over. Deshmukh, despite conceding 58 runs, took two wickets from his four overs for Neco Master Blasters. But those runs still were not enough as Neco Master Blasters chased down the target.