Ajanta Pharma wins Dreamz Trophy 40 overs title; defeat Osians by 7 runs in final
Venue: R.B.I.Cricket Ground | | Match Scorecard | Tournament Details
It is not necessary to have a high scoring match every time to witness a thrilling match. Sometimes it’s about holding your nerve and enjoying the game that displays every facet of it i.e. bowling and fielding as well. Case in question being the final match of Dreamz Trophy 40 overs where Ajanta Pharma played as a unit and defended a total that cannot be termed as a safe one in today’s slam bang version of cricket. But as is the case, they displayed some high quality cricket and walked away with the title defeating Osians by just 7 runs.
Ajanta Pharma won the toss and elected to bat first. Opener Vighnesh went back for a duck. Sagar Patil played a 21 ball 26 to release the pressure but unfortunately he could not stay for long. The third wicket fell with the scoreboard reading 53. But Prashant (38) and Mandar (41) held the innings together and stitched a partnership of 57 runs for the 4th wicket. After this partnership was broken, the lower middle order could not increase the tempo and lost wickets at regular intervals to end the innings on 191. Only Haresh could manage to score 25. 4 bowlers from Osians took 2 wickets each namely- Aditya, Viral, Jignesh and Shiva.
It was no one’s game at the innings break and both teams had equal chance to lift the title. But Osians were at a slight psychological advantage as they were able to stop their opponents to a score less than 200. Osians were off to a decent start with openers scoring 36 runs in 7.2 overs. Digvijay (73*) played through the innings but due to no significant support from other batsmen, could not help his team cross the line. He also played a bit defensively as wickets kept falling at the other end and someone was required to hold one end. But in the end they ran out of overs and were 7 runs short at the end of 40 overs. After his 73, the second highest score was 18.
It was a spirited bowling show from Ajanta Pharma as all their bowlers contributed to controlling the flow of runs and picked up wickets at regular intervals. Dinesh was the pick of the bowlers capturing 3 wickets while Sagar bowler a miserly spell of 8 overs picking up 2 wickets and giving away just 13 runs.
Following individual awards were given at the presentation ceremony:
Best Batsman – Hanumant Matkar (Ajanta Pharma Team)
Best Bowler – Mandar Mayekar (Ajanta Pharma Team)
Man of the Match – Digvijay (Osians Team)
Man of the Series – Sagar Patil (Ajanta Pharma Team)
Brief Scores:
Ajanta Pharma: 191 All out in 40 overs (Mandar 41, Prashant 38, Shiva 2/30, Viral 2/30)
Osians: 184/9 in 40 overs (Digvijay 73*, Dinesh 3/38, Sagar 2/13)
Match Report by
Sumanyu Jain
Regional Manager & Editor @CricketGraph