Space Cricket SC and Future Group in contrasting fashion won their respective first round matches of the 10th Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Cup – RCF T20 Cricket Tournament 2019, organized by Rashtriya Chemicals & Fertilizers Limited and played at the RCF Colony ground, Chembur on Thursday.
Ravindra Jadhav
Space Cricket produced a strong fighting performance to snatch a 13-run win against Mumbai Port Trust, while opening bat Harsh Tank smashed an exact half century, 50 runs, to steer Future Group to a comfortable 4-wicket victory over Mumbai Customs in the second match, played later in the afternoon. Harsh Tank was named winner of the ‘Man-of-the-Match’ award.
Earlier, Mumbai Port Trust after deciding to field were well-served by the bowlers who picked wickets at regular intervals to bundle out Space Cricket cheaply, for 110 in 19.4 overs. Number nine batsman Ravindra Jadhav came up with a face-saving knock, scoring 33 runs from 21 balls and blasted four towering sixes. He along with Saeed Khot added 32 valuable runs for the ninth wicket and helped the innings cross the hundred run mark before their innings folded. MBPT bowlers Yogesh Dicholkar (4/15), Yash Chavan (3/11) and Harsh Tanna 2/33) shared the spoils.
Harsh Tank
Defending a low total, Space Cricket bowlers were a disciplined lot and they received excellent support from the fielders, who were responsible for three run outs, and they also saved a lot of runs to frustrate the rival batsmen. Except for number seven bat Atharva Chavan (35 runs) and Naresh Kamble (17 runs) none of the other Port Trust batters could reach double figures. For Space Cricket, Geet Sharma (4/27) was the main wicket-taker while Bharat Meher (2/11) played the supporting role.
Ravindra Jadhav of Space Cricket was declared ‘Man-of-the-match’ and he received the award from Shri P.D. Shinde, DGM (HR), RCF.
Brief scores: Space Cricket SC 110 all out, 19.4 overs (Ravindra Jadhav 33 (21b, 30m, 4×6), Vinit Parab 21; Yogesh Dicholkar 4/15, Yash Chavan 3/11, Harsh Tanna 2/33) beat MBPT 97 all out, 18.4 overs (Atharva Chavan 35, Naresh Kamble 17; Geet Sharma 4/27, Bharat Meher 2/11) by 13 runs.
Man-of-the-match: Ravindra Jadhav (Space Cricket).
Mumbai Customs 164 for 8, in 20 overs (Vikrant Auti 29, Swapnil Pradhan 29; Akshay Darekar 3/24, Raunaq Sharma 2/20) lost to Future Group 165 for 6, in 19.4 overs (Harsh Tank 50 (40b, 75n, 6×4, 1×6), Sachin Yadav 34, Aplesh Ramjani 31; Atif Attarwala 3/29) by 4 wickets.
Man-of-the-match: Harsh Tank (Future Group).