Avi Marke’s 4wkts & Raju Shamla’s 85* helps Akumentis win the semi-finals of the Thane Vaibhav Tournament

Akumentis & Bhise Associates faced each other for the all important crucial semi-finals of the Thane Vaibhav Tournament at the Dadoji Kondev Stadium, Thane. Bhise Associates won the toss and elected to bat first in order to make a big target to defend.

Batting first, Bhise Associates were not off to a good start as they lost both their openers Tushar and Shantanu at 21 & 3 respectively. The rest of the batsman were also not able to convert their good starts. Quite evident from the fact that Irfan Shaikh was the highest scorer at just 29 runs followed by Alkesh kadam & Manoj Sonawane scoring 28 & 23 respectively. The bowlers did a good job & especially their right-handed medium pacer Avi Marke who came up with bowling figures of 4/34 in his 6 overs. Avi was consistent in his line and length and gave timely breakthroughs to his team. Pradnyesh Shinde also bowled well for his 2/22 in 5 overs. Eventually Bhise Associates were all out for 171 runs in 35 overs.

Chasing 172 is not a big thing for Akumentis or any team at the first place & they rightly chased the target in just 26 overs and won the match comfortably by 9 wkts. Right handed opener Raju Shamla continued his phenomenal run in the tournament notching up another half century & this time scoring an 85* off just 84 balls (8 fours, 1six). Shamla got good support from Pradnyesh Shinde who also remained unbeaten on 30*(44b).

Akumentis won the semi-finals and they qualify for the finals. Coach Chandrashekhar Karmlkar who works hard over his team must be proud to see his team perform so well in the tournament. Cricketgraph wishes Akumentis all the luck & go on to win the tournament.