The excellent combined efforts of left-arm spinner Shreyas Keskar 4 wickets for 34 runs and prolific number 3 batsman, Ayush Vartak whose unbeaten half century (51 runs) knock helped E. Merck Sports Club emerge champions defeating Bhavishya Nidhi Staff CC by eight wickets in the ‘D’ Division final of the 1st MCA Corporate Trophy Cricket Tournament and played at the Parsee Gymkhana ground, Marine Drive on Tuesday.
The victorious E. Merck Sports Club
E. Merck electing to field after winning the toss proved to be a good decision as their bowlers tormented the opposition batsmen and picked up wickets at regular intervals and dismissed Bhavishya Nidhi CC for 104 all out in 26.3 overs. Medium pacers Kazim Sayyed (2/18) and Vaibhav Sawant (2/37) got the initial breakthroughs before Keskar and off-spinner Prashant Patil (2/13) scalped the remaining wickets. Dushyant Kadam was the lone batsman to offer some resistance making 22 runs (27 balls, 1x4s, 1x6s) to lift the innings.
Defending a low target, Bhavishya rocked the E. Merck innings with an early wicket of Mandar Lambe for eight runs and with 33 runs on the board. But, the other opening bat Harsh Rane 39 (40 balls, 7x4s) and Vartak 48 balls innings which included 8 well-timed boundaries and 2 huge sixes stitched together 43 runs in 9 overs for the second wicket and to put their team in the driver’s seat and charge to a fluent victory. Left-arm spinner Pratham Salaskar (1/14) and medium pacer Saurabh Sharma (1/31) claimed the two wickets.
Brief scores: Bhavishya Nidhi Staff CC 104 all out, 26.3 overs (Dushyant Kadam 22 (27 balls, 1x4s, 1x6s); SLA-Shreyas Keskar 4/34, Kazim Sayyed 2/18, Vaibhav Sawant 2/37) lost to E. Merck SC 107 for 2 wickets, 20.1 overs (Ayush Vartak 51* (48 balls, 8x4s, 2x6s), Harsh Rane 39 (40 balls, 7x4s), Pratham Salaskar 1/14). Result: E. Merck SC won by 8 wickets.