Thakur, Rekhade shine for Nagpur Heroz

 

 

YASH Thakur bowled a fine spell taking a 4-fer while Parth Rekhade slammed an excellent half century at the top as Nagpur Heroz defeated Bharat Rangers by four wickets in what was the former’s last game of Vidarbha Pro T20 League here at VCA’s Jamtha Stadium on Wednesday. Nagpur Heroz thus finished their campaign with just one win and three losses.

 

Their match against Nagpur Titans was abandoned due to rain. Chasing 167 for an elusive win, Nagpur Heroz knocked off the runs in 19.2 overs. Openers Rekhade (61; 30b, 3x4, 6x6) and SiddheshWath (27; 15b, 3x4) gave Nagpur Titans a perfect start as they put 45 runs for the first wicket in four overs. After Wath’s departure, Rekhade and Aman Mokhade (37; 33b, 4x4) posted 70 runs for the second wicket which helped them inch closer to the target. Rekhade was in his elements hitting some clean boundaries and big sixes while Mohkade showed his class with four delicate boundaries. Vaibhav Chouksey (26; 18b, 2x4, 1x6) completed the formalities with a boundary towards fine leg in the last over of the match.

 

For Nagpur Rangers, Shantanu Chikhale took two wickets while Shubham Kapse, Malhar Dosi, Shree Chaudhary and captain Atharva Taide took one each. Earlier, Danish Malewar (67*; 52b, 7x4, 2x6) hit an unbeaten half-century while Chaudhary slammed 44 (37b, 3x4, 2x6) as Bharat Rangers posted a challenging 166 for 5. It was a late charge from Varun Bisht who scored 11 ball-25 which helped Bharat Rangers cross the 150- run mark. Bisht hit Nagpur Heroz pacer Tejas Soni for 23 runs hitting three sixes and a boundary in one over to lift Bharat Rangers’ score. Malewar then clobbered seamer Arjun Ingle for 22 runs in the 19th over hitting two back-toback maximums after completing his half century with a boundary. Nagpur Heroz started well taking the wicket in the second over when Updesh Rajput was cleaned byYash Thakur for a first ball duck.

 

Skipper Taide (16; 13b, 2x4, 1x6) was joined by Malewar and the duo put up 27 runs for the second wicket in 17 deliveries. However, Thakur once again gave Nagpur Heroz the breakthrough getting rival captain caught by Wath behind the stumps in the fourth over. Malewar and Chaudhary then did the repair job putting up a fine 77 runs from 68 balls for the third wicket. Chaudhary was going well until he failed to get enough power to his pull shot only to give an easy catch to Rekhade at deep square leg off Ingle. Thakur then took two more wickets, first cutting short the little cameo of Bisht and then dismantling the furniture of Nachiket Bhute off an excellent Yorker very next delivery. Manan Agrawal hit two boundaries off Thakur in the 20th over to take their score to 166.