SB City Strikers and Citi Gymkhana Cricket Club recorded comfortable wins in their respective semi-finals to set up a final date in the City Masters Cup. In the semis played on Sunday at SB City College Ground, SB City Strikers beat Fortune Cricket Club by 34 runs while Citi Gymkhana got the better of SGR-MSDCA by five wickets. SB City Strikers opted to bat against Fortune Cricket Club and posted a modest score of 129-6 in allotted 100 balls. Only three batters Vikram Batra (49; 36b, 8x4), Syed Foorqan Rezvi (retired hurt 23; 32b, 4x4) and Punit Kohli (27; 14b, 6x4) scored in double digits. With three wickets for 21 runs from his quota of 20 balls, Prashant Tagade was once again Fortune’s top bowler. Shailesh Harbade and Pawan Dhole chipped in with one wicket each. Fortune did not have a good start as within eight balls, Sudhir Wankhede and Tagade were back in the hut scoring one and two respectively with score reading 6-2. Opener Mangesh Samdurkar (20; 17b, 1x4, 1x6), stumper Mihir Deshpande (30*; 27b, 2x4) and Parikshit Tripathi (17; 9b, 2x4, 1x6) tried their best but the innings folded at 95 on 85 balls.

 

SB City Strikers skipper Manish Mishra (3-25), who returned with a three-wicket haul, was named man of the match while Chandrashekhar Khunte (4-17) finished with best figures for the team. Vishal Bhagat, Manish Gaur and Vikram Batra chipped in with a wicket apiece. In the other semis, SGR-MSDCA, electing to bat first, were shot out for 130 in 98 balls. Opener Mohammed Nahid Siddique (34; 18b, 6x4, 1x6), Wasim Aslam Shaikh (31; 27b, 1x4, 2x6) and Kishor Dhengre (35; 28b, 5x4) scored in 30s. Man of the Match Sandeep Singh (4-20) was the wrecker-in chief for Citi Gymkhana Cricket Club. He was ably supported by Azhar Sheikh who snared two for 18. The trio of Chandrashekhar Atram, Umesh Patil and skipper Adwait Manohar took one wicket each. Citi Gymkhana also lost Anup Fulper and Rupesh Bhaik early but Manohar (30; 28b, 3x4) got good support from Sheikh (26; 17b, 5x4) and later Swaroopraj Shrivastava (38*; 24b, 4x4, 1x6) took them home with five wickets intact and six balls to spare. Wicketkeeper Vivek Naidu contributed 12-ball 13. SGR-MSDCA’s Preshit Chitale took two wickets while Pritam Deoraj claimed one.