Milan T20 Red Ball Semi Final: Nomura reach final with an easy 44 run win over Naaptol

Venue: Plot No. 3

A complete team effort both by batsmen and bowlers ensured a final berth and a shot at the trophy for Nomura as they entered final in style with a comfortable 44 run victory over Naaptol in Milan T20 Red Ball semi-final.

Naaptol won the toss and opted to chase. Nomura openers Bhawik and Sumant provided an explosive start to the innings hammering 78 runs in just 8 overs. Bhawik was particularly hard on the bowlers scoring 54 runs in just 36 balls consisting 8 fours. Nomura then lost 3 wickets in quick succession including both openers and were in a spot of bother of wasting away such a good start.

But quick and handy contributions from rest of the batsmen including Deepak (25 runs from 21 balls) and Inder (30 runs from 13 balls) prevented Nomura’s innings from slipping away as they scored a challenging 174 runs for the loss of 5 wickets. Naaptol’s Kiran and Ashish were the only two bowlers who could test Nomura’s batsmen. Kiran scalped 3 while Ashish took 2 wickets.

174 is a daunting task especially when final berth is at stake. And it actually proved too high a mountain to climb for Naaptol. Like their opponents, Naaptol openers also provided their team a swashbuckling start, adding 40 runs in just 16 balls. Abhishek was the chief contributor with 30 runs off only 12 balls studded with 7 boundaries. Once he got out, Naaptol’s innings just lost the track. No other batsman could keep up with the asking rate as the match slowly slipped away.

As many as three batsmen ran themselves out. Harnik tried his luck with a 14 ball 23 towards the end but he did not get any support from the other end as Naaptol ran out of batsmen with as many as four overs remaining. Nomura’s bowlers bowled superbly with most of them managing a wicket at least. Pratik captured two wickets to emerge as top wicket taker of the innings. Bhawik was adjudged man of the match for his superb knock.

Brief Scores:

Nomura: 174/5 in 20 overs (Bhawik 57, Inder 30*, Kiran 3/25, Ashish 2/34)

Naaptol: 129 all out in 16 overs (Abhishek 30, Harnik 23*, Pratik 2/13, Deepak 1/9)

Match Report By:

Sumanyu Jain

(Regional Manager & Editor @CricketGraph)