Middle order bat Sujit Nayak cracked an unbeaten 69 runs and impressive bowling from left-arm medium pacer Arjun Tendulkar who picked 3 wickets for 30 runs enabled Cricket Club of India clinch a close 8-run victory against Islam Gymkhana in a first round match of the Nirlon Ltd. sponsored R.F.S. Talyarkhan Memorial Invitation Cricket Tournament 2018-2019, organized by Bombay Gymkhana, under the auspices of MCA and played at the Gymkhana’s ground.
Sujit Nayak
CCI after making 176 for 6 wickets in 20 overs bowled well to restrict Islam Gym to 168 for 6 wickets and to pull off a tense win.
Deciding to field after winning the toss Islam Gymkhana got rid of CCI skipper Paul Velthatty from the first ball of the match. They then inflicted more damage on the CCI innings dismissing the top four CCI batsmen with just 33 runs on the board from 5.1 overs.
Arjun Tendulkar
But, CCI’s fifth wicket pair of Karan Nandsy (34 runs) and Nayak held the innings together and the duo put on 62 valuable runs to steady the innings. Later, Nayak, whose 46-ball knock was studded with 5 hits to the fence and 3 huge sixes, was associated in a solid 70-run partnership with Sairaj Patil (20 runs) and they ensured CCI set the opposition quite a challenging target of 177 for victory.
Tendulkar and left arm spinner Vaibhav Mali (2/12) received excellent backing from the fielders and they did well to contain the rival batsmen. Opener Prem Salvi defied the CCI bowling attack scoring 54 runs from 34 balls with 4 boundaries and 3 hits over the fence. Ahad Mallick made a useful contribution with the bat scoring 27 runs and keeping Islam Gym’s hope alive. But, Tendulkar dashed their hopes as he picked up two wickets in the final over to ensure CCI scrapped through and booked a place in the semi-finals.
Brief scores: Cricket Club of India 176 for 6, 20 overs (Karan Nandsy 34 (29b, 30m, 4×4), Sujit Nayak 69 not out (46b, 66m, 5×4,3×6), Sairaj Patil 20 (15b, 31m, 2×6); Abdul Kalam 2/27) beat Islam Gymkhana 168 for 6, 20 overs (Prem Salvi 54 (34b, 44m, 4×4, 3×6), Ahad Mallick 27 (15b, 50b, 1×4, 1×6), Rohan Bhosle 22 (18b, 28m, 2×4, 1×6); Arjun Tendulkar 3/30, Vaibhav Mali 2/12).
Result: CCI won by 8 runs.