Police Invitation Shield Cricket
Buoyed by some top class batting display from attacking middle order batsmen Eknath Kerkar 109 and Shivam Dubey’s unbeaten knock of 191, Karnatak Sporting Association piled on the misery on MIG Cricket Club bowlers amassing a healthy total of 448 for the loss of 5 wickets in 85 overs in their first innings at stumps on day one of their three-day final of the Jain Irrigation Systems Ltd. sponsored 69th Police Invitation Shield Cricket Tournament – 2016, and played at the Police Gymkhana ground, Marine Drive, on Friday.
Karnataka after electing to bat first made a shaky start losing both the openers cheaply and were further reduced to 117 for 4 by the 30th over. But, No. 3 bat Kerkar and the left-handed Dubey, who came in at number 6, repaired the damage with some counter-attacking batting performances. They stroked the ball fluently and steadily accumulated runs with some positive shots to wrest the advantage from their opponents.
The Mumbai Under-23 captain Kerkar was a bit cautious but did well to score off the bad balls. His century effort came from 177 balls and contained 13 hits to the fence. In contrast, Dubey was aggressive from the start and smashed the bowling to different corners of the park. His blistering unconquered knock came from just 145 balls and was studded with 16 cracks to the boundary and 11 massive sixes.
Kerkar and Dubey were associated in a 151-run partnership for the fifth wicket which gave the much needed impetus to the Karnatak innings. Kerkar was finally dismissed caught behind by Sumit Ghadigaonkar off Nikhil Date, who was MIG’s most successful bowler picking up four wickets for 23 runs.
Later, Dubey and Vinayak Bhoir, who is batting on 70, were associated in an unbeaten 6th wicket partnership which has so far produced 180 runs.
Dubey looks good to complete a double ton as Karnatak SA still have five more overs left to complete their first innings, which will resume on Saturday morning.
Brief scores:
Karnatak Sporting Association: 448 for 5 wickets in 85 overs (Shivam Dubey 191* (Min. 219, Balls-145, 16×4,11×6), Eknath Kerkar 109(Min. 267, Balls-177, 13 x 4), Vinayak Bhoir 70*; Nikhil Date 4/83) vs MIG Cricket Club.