All-round Yadav shines

Pagariya Strikers beat India Warriors by three wickets

Special Correspondent

PACE bowler Lalit Yadav, after taking three first innings wickets, slammed three sixes off the last over bowled by Darshan Nalkande as Pagariya Strikers chased down the 214-run target put up by India Warriors with three wickets in hand and a ball to spare in the ongoing Vidarbha Premier League at VCA’s Jamtha International Stadium on Wednesday.

Needing 19 from the last over, Pagariya lost the wicket of Pushpak Gujar to the first ball. Yadav walked in calmly and picked a single and then Shivam Deshmukh (47*) gave strike back to Yadav who hit his first six towards deep point. Nalkande bowled the next delivery wide and then over-pitched the ball which Yadav sent it over mid-wicket ropes. Needing four from the last delivery, which turned out to be a no-ball, Yadav hammered it over the long-off fence to hand his side their second win in a row and go top of the table.

The chase was in total control of Pagariya Strikers with Ravikumar Samarth, who scored season’s first century, hitting a fine 59. Deshmukh played brilliantly and with Pushpak Gujar (37), they added 75 runs from 36 deliveries. In the end it was Yadav’s four-ball 19 which sealed the deal for Strikers.

Earlier, Satyam Bhoyar slammed his second half century of the tournament while Akshay Wadkar and Shubham Dubey chipped in with valuable runs as India Warriors posted another 200-plus runs.

Asked to bat first, Warriors scored 214-8 in 20 overs. Opening the batting Bhoyar slammed 58 runs from 21 balls after Vaibhav Lande failed with the bat. Bhoyar’s knock had four boundaries and five maximums.

Skipper Wadkar threw his bat hitting a couple of fours and as many sixes to score 21-ball 35. Dubey, who had scored 74 runs in their previous game against Nagpur Heroz, slammed 43 from 22 deliveries with three maximums and three boundaries.

Abhishek Agrawal, who scored 63 from 19 balls in their last game, continued his fine batting with another quickfire 21 from 15 deliveries while Darshan Nalkande hit 5-ball 14 as Warriors crossed 200-run mark.

Spinner Kaustubh Salve and Lalit Yadav took three wickets each for Pagariya Strikers while captain Kadam took two. 

INDIA WARRIORS INNINGS R B 4 6

V Lande c Chawate b Salve 5 5 1 0

S Bhoyar c Sanjay b Salve 58 21 4 5

S Sheikh c Samarth b Salve 12 9 2 0

A Wadkar c&b Kadam 35 21 2 2

K Nagar c Gujar b Kadam 19 20 2 0

S Dubey c Sanjay b Yadav 43 22 3 3

A Agrawal c Gujar b Yadav 21 15 1 1

D Nalkande c Gujar b Yadav 14 5 0 2

S Choudhary Not Out 2 2 0 0

Extras: (wd 5) 5

TOTAL: (8 wickets, 20 overs) 214

Fall of wickets: 6-1, 68-2, 83-3, 125-4, 134-5, 171-6, 205-7, 214-8.

Bowling: Salve 3-0-32-3, Yadav 4-0-52-3, Chawate 3-0-53-0, Rai 1-0-9-0, Kadam 4-0-23-2, Singh 1-0-10-0-1, Gujar 2-0-18-0, Sanjay 2-0-17-0.

PAGARIYA STRIKERS INNINGS R B 4 6

R Sanjay c Dubey b Hinge 19 8 0 3

F Sheikh c Dubey b Nalkande 0 4 0 0

R Samarth c&b Sodhi 59 31 9 2

Y Kadam c Agrawal b Choudhary 13 14 1 0

A Ahuja c Nalkande b Sheikh 7 9 1 0

S Deshmukh Not Out 47 21 1 5

S Rai c Wadkar b Sodhi 9 7 1 0

P Gujar c Agrawal b Nalkande 37 22 4 1

L Yadav Not Out 19 4 0 3

Extras: (lb 3, wd 4, nb 1) 8

TOTAL: (7 wickets, 19.5 overs) 218

Fall of wickets: 19-1, 25-2, 92-3, 100-4, 102-5, 121-6, 196-7.

Bowling: Nalkande 3.5-0-42-2, Hinge 4-0-56-1, Dongarwar 3-0-40-0, Nagar 1-0-12-0, Choudhary 3-0-26-1, Sodhi 4-0-29-2, Sheikh 1-0-10-1.