Neco Master Blaster out of play-offs race

Lose to Nagpur Heroz by 6 wkts for 5th straight defeat

By Paritosh Pramanik

DEFENDING champions Neco Master Blaster slumped to their fifth defeat in-a-row and are out of play-offs race after they were beaten by six wickets by Nagpur Heroz in a rain-curtailed VPL match on Monday afternoon.

The Jitesh Sharma-led side, which is lingering at the bottom of the table, posted a meagre 146 all out in 19 overs. Heavens opened during the innings break and the chase for Nagpur Heroz was delayed by around 45 minutes. The revised target of 94 from 11 overs was chased down easily in 7.5 overs (DLS method) by Nagpur Heroz who moved to third spot with six points.

Neco Master Blaster still have two games in hand and even if they win those they would earn only four points which won’t be enough for them to finish at least fourth for a play-offs berth.

Nagpur Heroz opener and captain Aman Mokhade stayed unbeaten with 38 from 18 balls. Mokhade and Siddhesh Wath (12) put up 47 runs for the third wicket to keep the chase in control. Costliest player of the competition Apoorv Wankhade hit eight-ball 19 runs with two sixes and a four to seal the deal for Heroz. 

Neco Master Blaster shot themselves in their foot by playing rash shots when asked to bat first as their innings folded at 146 in 19 overs.

Neco Master Blaster had an outside chance to make it to the play-offs but they played without any purpose. Their shot selection was questionable and batters, including captain Jitesh Sharma, will have to explain their ways of throwing their wickets. When boundaries could have been scored, most of the batters went for aerial routes giving each catch.

Jitesh walked in at No 5 with the scoreboard reading 79-4 in the 9th over. He smacked Rajveer Jolly for a four and a six but then had brain-fade as he threw his wicket by playing an unwanted scoop shot. Umesh Yadav gleefully accepted the catch behind the wicketkeeper.

Nagpur Heroz bowlers enjoyed the afternoon where sun played hide-and-seek with clouds over the Jamtha sky.

All the five bowlers were among wickets with Tejas Soni emerging as the highest wicket-taker of the innings with three scalps. Rajneesh Gurbani and Jolly chipped in with two wickets each while Parth Rekhade and Yadav picked up one apiece. Yadav would have taken a couple had Mokhade not spilled a sitter. Yadav was later smacked for 22 runs by Sanmesh Deshmukh with three sixes and a four. Tushar Naidu scored 28 runs at the top while Vaibhav Chandekar put up 21 batting at No 3.

SCOREBOARD

NECO MASTER BLASTER INNINGS R B 4 6

A Daga c Wankhade b Gurbani 11 10 2 0

T Kadu c Gurbani b Soni 28 20 3 2

V Chandekar c Wankhade b Jolly 21 19 1 1

A Meshram c Yadav b Rekhade 8 9 1 0

J Sharma c Yadav b Jolly 11 6 1 1

V Dighade c Wath b Gurbani 9 15 0 0

S Rajput c Rathod b Soni 16 11 0 2

S Deshmukh Not Out 26 15 1 3

D Parwani c Wath b Yadav 1 4 0 0

G Dhoble lbw b Soni 9 4 2 0

A Jayaswal run out (Wath) 1 2 0 0

Extras: (wd 4, nb 1) 5

TOTAL: (All out, 19 overs) 146

Fall of wickets: 1-41, 2-45, 3-66, 4-79, 5-87, 6-107, 7-112, 

8-113, 9-122.

Bowling: Yadav 4-0-39-1, Gurbani 4-0-24-2, Soni 3-0-31-3, 

Rekhade 4-0-24-1, Jolly 4-0-28-2.

NAGPUR HEROZ INNINGS R B 4 6

P Rekhade c Sharma b Deshmukh 0 3 0 0

A Mokhade Not Out 38 18 0 4

T Suryavanshi c Rajput b Parwani 14 4 2 1

S Wath c Daga b Gupta 12 10 2 0

K Rathod c Jayaswal b Gupta 8 5 1 0

A Wankhade Not Out 19 8 1 2

Extras: (wd 3, nb 1) 4

TOTAL: (4 wickets, 7.5 overs) 95

Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-15, 3-62, 4-74.

Bowling: Deshmukh 2-0-28-1, Parwani 2.5-0-37-1, Gupta 

2-0-19-2, Jayaswal 1-0-11-0. 

(Nagpur Heroz won via DLS method)