A different knock of 188* by Kaustub Pawar in semis of Police Shield.

As usual Kaustub took the guard at the crease in the all important semi final match against the hosts Mumbai Police team. Opponent Team wanted to get KP out early and Santosh Shinde greeted him with a bouncer which was pulled for a four. This was the first ball and the intentions were expressed bluntly by KP. He meant business.

Chasing a stiff target of 283 it appeared as if KP wanted to score all the runs by himself, such was his hunger to score not only for himself but to ensure a berth in the finals. KP showed maturity in his innings by slowing down  a little bit  when he was on 80’s and 90”s because the ball was reverse swinging a lot but again started counter attacking the bowlers with a lot of confidence & grace.

Kaustub also had different plans for that day as he was not keen on running much! Pawar only dealt in boundaries and sixes which was refreshing and entertaining to see as a spectator. Kaustub’s unbeaten 156 ball 188 included as many as 28 boundaries and 7 huge sixes which meant over 75% of his runs he scored in boundaries stands quite a testimony to the fact that he was not keen on running much!

Kaustub who is generally a free flowing batsman and once on song can really score big runs at consistency. No doubt this knock helped his Karnataka side to reach finals with an easy win & Pawar should be a batsman to be worried for as far as opposition is concerned for the finals against MIG

Everyone at the ground saw a new Kaustub Pawar in this match, a batsman who clearly demonstrated his flexibility with all formats of the game.