Ankit Chopra smashes a 36ball 63 to help Osian’s Cricket Club defeat CCI in the Gannon Dunkerley Invitational Trophy 2017
Held at the CCI ground in Mumbai, two strong teams in the name of Osian’s Cricket Club & Cricket Club of India clashed for a crucial encounter. Osian’s XI won the toss & elected to bowl first in order to restrict CCI to a low total and chase it down.
However, CCI did a good batting as they managed to put a very healthy score of 171/6 in 20 overs on the board. Both the openers T.Patani & S purohit gave a brilliant start as Patani scored a quick 37 ball 54 while Purohit scored a 27ball 32. Rohan Punjani & R Zhaveri did fell early but it was again a good comeback by the CCI team as B.Devadvala scored a quickfire 43 off just 23balls which pushed his team total to a very competitive 171 in 20 overs. Osian’s bowlers could have bowled better to restrict them to under 150 but overall it was a decent perfomance by them with D Kathiwada being the pick of the bowlers scalping 2wkts in his 1 over followed by a wicket each for V Shah & A singh.
Chasing 172 at more than 8 runs per over is always a pressure situation & have to be smart enough to chase such scores in T20. However Osian’s XI showed their mettle as they chased the score successfully in 19.5 overs & won the match by 5wkts. Left-handed opener Ankit Chopra made his bat talk at the top of the order as he scored a blazing 63 coming off just 36balls which included 7fours & 3 biggies clearing the boundary ropes. D Kathiwada who had taken 2wkts chipped in with the bat too as he scored 32ball 31 followed by a match winning innings by A Singh who scored 58* off just 28balls (5fours & 3sixes) and played the role of a finisher to the hilt.
Osian’s cricket club won the match by 5wkts while opener Ankit Chopra was declared ‘man of the match’ for his 36ball 63 at the top of the order. It was a good team perfomance overall where every player contributed in his capacity to help their team win the match. Cricketgraph congratulates the whole team for their win & wishes them luck for their coming matches of the tournament.
CRICKETGRAPH