Goregaon Centre produced a late fight back as left-arm spinner Tanish Shetty (4 for 63) took three crucial wickets and restricted Vasai Centre to 216 for 5 wickets in 89 overs in their first innings at stumps on the first day of their two-day final of the 25th Ajit Naik Memorial Under-14 selection trials cricket tournament 2022, organised by WSC under the aegis of the Mumbai Cricket Association and played at the WSC ground, on Monday. Pritesh Bengani and Aarav Malhotra were batting on 8 and 3 runs respectively at close of play.
Sent in to bat, Vasai were cruising along at 196 for 2 wickets in the 75th over and looked set for a big total. But, a sudden lapse in concentration saw them lose three wickets, all to the guiles of Tanish, and for the addition of just nine runs from as many overs. First, Tanish trapped opener Swapnil Verma who batted responsibly making 49 runs from 230-balls and in his next over clean bowled the well-set Advait Kandalkar for 64 (77-balls, 7x4s) runs. He then got rid of Yuvraj Patil who fell cheaply for just 5 runs and reduced Vasai to 209 for 5 in the 83rd over. Later, Pritesh and Aarav were cautious and ensured the team did not encounter more setbacks.
When play resumes on Tuesday, the lower order Vasai batsmen will have to stay focused and bat with purpose to score runs quickly, and build a big total in order to put pressure on the Goregaon batsmen.
Brief scores: Vasai Centre – 1st innings: 216 for 5 wickets, 89 overs (Advait Kandalkar 64 (77-b, 7x4s), Swapnil Verma 49 (230-balls, 7x4s; Kshitij Pradyumn Pal 42 (61-balls, 7x4s), Devansh Trivedi 31 (87-balls, 3x4s); Tanish Shetty 4/63) Vs Goregaon Centre.