A clinical batting performance by Menara CC while chasing a stiff target helped them defeat GMIS in their own backyard by 4 wickets, in a division 1 encounter on Saturday, in the TATA Motors JCA League.
Chasing a target of 247 runs to win, on a ground that has had an impressive makeover, Menara CC romped home in the 33rd over losing only 6 wickets. Menara did not get the start they needed when they lost their openers cheaply. Then a fine partnership of 132 runs for the 4th wicket between John Dulip Kumar (71 runs off 46 balls) and Neetesh Pansare (58 runs off 64 balls) steadied the innings. This match winning partnership that came in quick time was complimented by a superb flourish in the end between Skipper Harish Tiwari ( 25*) and Mohit Keshwani (28*) who between them added 47 runs in only 4 overs to finish the game with 2 overs to spare. GMIS, who lost the services of their strike bowler Diwakar Mohan to a freak injury on the field in the very first over, did not find the support it needed from the rest of its bowlers who, barring the exception of Jalaj Chaturvedi (2/35) were all taken for runs. Karan Tiwari and Maulik Trivedi also took 2 wickets apiece.
Earlier put into bat, GMIS started cautiously when it reached 64/1 in 12 overs. The next 12 overs saw them accelerate to 169/3, despite losing its big hitting batsman and captain, Naresh Gupta who was bowled by his counterpart Harish Tiwari. A splendid innings from its batting mainstay Pratyush Chaturvedi, who missed out on a well deserved century by just 10 runs, held the batting together, who in an attempt to up the ante, was caught in the deep off the bowling of Taimur Khan in the 26th over. Taimur (3/44) and Mohit Keshwani (4/49) then combined well to choke the GMIS batting with some intelligent bowling in the slog overs to have them all out for 246 runs. Bharat Dholakhandi was the other contributor with the bat scoring 33 runs.
John Dulip and Mohit shared the “Man of the Match†award.
Thanks to Dhiraj & Gaurang from WPP India XI for umpiring the game.
