Medium Pacer Badre Alam’s splendid bowling performance 6 for 21, powered Payyade Cricket Club to a comfortable 6-wicket victory against Young Mohammedan Cricket Club in a semi-final match of the 69th Nawab Salar Jung Invitation T20 Cricket Tournament, which is being organised by the Islam Gymkhana under the auspices of the Mumbai Cricket Association, at the Islam Gymkhana ground on Sunday.
Badre Alam
Put in to bat first, Young Mohemmedan’s top order batsmen were unable to negotiate the pace Alam’s bowling and were blown away as they were dismissed for 93 in 13.3 over. Number 7 bat Sandesh Koli scored an unbeaten 20 from 18 balls and number 9 bat Ankur Singh made 24 from 12 balls and they were only Mohammedan batsmen to get a few runs on the board. Alam was ably supported by Kalpesh Sawant who picked 2 for 17 runs.
Payyade easily chased down their target scoring 95 runs for the loss of 4 wickets in 12.1 overs. One drop batsman Praful Waghela was unbeaten on 47 runs from 26 balls with 8 boundaries and Mussavir Khote chipped in with 20 runs from 18 balls as Payyade achieved their target.
Alam justified his captain’s decision to field first as he produced a fiery pace to rattle the opposition batsmen. He beat the rival batters with speed and accuracy and four of his victims were clean bowled. He picked one wicket in his first over and in his second spell from the other end he claimed three wickets in his third over and in his fourth over he added two more scalps to his kitty to finish with fine figures of 4-0-21-6 as Young Mohemmedans were left reeling at 50 for 7 by the 9th over. Sandesh Koli and Ankur Singh managed to lift the scoring before their innings folded in the 14th over.
Payyade’s innings received an early jolt losing the wicket of opener Harsh Tank for just 2 runs in the second over. But, No. 3 bat Waghela and Eknath Kerekar steadied the innings and later No. 4 bat Khote ensured Payyade crossed the finish line.
In the final, Payyade CC will take on Parsee Gymkhana who had defeated Mumbai Police Gymkhana by 1-run in a thrilling final.
Brief scores: Young Mohammedan CC 93 all out, 13.3 overs (Sandesh Koli 20 (18balls), Ankur Singh 24 (12balls); Badre Alam 6/21, Kalpesh Sawant 2/17) lost to Payyade CC 95 for 4 wickets, 12.1 overs (Praful Waghela 47* (26ball, 8×4), Mussavir Khote 20; Ankur Singh 2/21). Result: Payyade CC won by 6 wickets..