Rangers suffer first defeat

Lose to Pagariya Strikers by nine wickets

By Paritosh Pramanik

PAGARIYA Strikers’ openers Aditya Ahuja and Faiz Sheikh overpowered Bharat Rangers’ Varun Bisht’s brutal knock to hand the table toppers their first defeat of Vidarbha Premier League Season 2 here at VCA’s Jamtha Stadium on Monday evening.

Chasing 183 runs target, Pagariya Strikers rode on two top-order partnerships to achieve the target with nine wickets in hand and 12 balls to spare. The win also arrested their two-game losing streak and now they moved to fourth spot with six points from five games.

In the first innings, Bisht bailed out Bharat Rangers from a 

precarious 101-6 in 15 overs to 182 in 20. 

The target looked challenging before Ahuja (38) and left-handed Faiz (77*; 42b, 6x4, 4x6) went on boundary-plucking spree to deflate Bharat Rangers. Ahuja missed his half century after being sent back by Bisht in 8th over. But Ravikumar Samarth (61*; 37b, 3x4, 4x6) and Faiz added unbeaten 113 runs for the second wicket to make the chase look easy. Samarth got back his Orange Cap once again, emerging as the top scorer with 261 runs from five innings.

Bharat Rangers bowlers were themselves to blame for the defeat as the bowled either too full or too short. Captain Atharva Taide used six bowlers but to no avail. Shubham Kapse and Impact Sub Mandar Ghodmare were hit for three sixes each.

Earlier, diminutive hard-hitting batter Bisht (56; 18b, 2x4, 7x6) unleashed his brute power to escort Bharat Rangers to a competitive 182-8 after they were in a spot of bother initially.

Bharat Rangers were 100-6 after 15 overs when Bisht walked in to join Jagjot Sasan (31). What unfolded in the next five overs was a carnage from Bisht as he recorded the fastest fifty (54) of the tournament which came from just 15 deliveries. 

By the time he raised his bat to celebrate his half century, Bisht had slammed seven huge sixes and two boundaries.

Along with Sasan, the duo added important 69 runs for the seventh wicket with the former scoring just nine runs. From the last five overs, Bharat Rangers scored 82 runs to pose a fight . Sasan got out in the 18th over and Bisht followed him in the next over giving the bowlers enough cushion of runs to defend.

For Pagariya Strikers, skipper Yash Kadam, Kaustubh Salve and R Sanjay took two wickets each.

SCOREBOARD

BHARAT RANGERS INNINGS R B 4 6

A Taide b Kadam 1 3 0 0

D Malewar c Ramaswamy b Chawate 8 9 1 0

V Jajoo c Ahuja b Kadam 38 21 4 2

M Agrawal c Sheikh b Salve 14 18 1 0

J Sasan c Ramaswamy b Yadav 31 28 1 1

V Palandurkar c Kadam b Salve 1 5 0 0

A Sarwate c Samarth b Ramaswamy 12 13 1 0

V Bisht c Rajput b Ramaswamy 56 18 2 7

N Bhute Not Out 2 3 0 0

K Kungwani Not Out 9 3 0 1

Extras: (w 5, lb 1, b 3, nb 1) 10

TOTAL: (8 wickets, 20 overs) 182

Fall of wickets: 1-7, 2-12, 3-60, 4-66, 5-71, 6-100, 7-169, 8-171.

Bowling: Yadav 4-0-35-1, Kadam 4-0-19-2, Chawate 3-0-45-1, Salve 4-0-31-2, Singh 1-0-9-0, Gujar 2-0-24-0, Ramaswamy 2-0-15-2.

PAGARIYA STRIKERS INNINGS R B 4 6

A Ahuja c Kungwani b Bisht 38 29 5 1

F Sheikh Not Out 77 42 6 4

R Samarth Not Out 61 37 3 4

Extras: (wd 6, b 1) 7

TOTAL: (1 wicket, 18 overs) 183

Fall of wicket: 1-70.

Bowling: Bhute 3-0-25-0, Kapse 2-0-32-0, Kungwani 3-0-28-0, Sarwate 2-0-19-0, Bisht 4-0-38-1, Ghodmare 3-0-34-0, Sasan 1-0-6-0.