Champions Parsee Gym tumble at first hurdle

Mumbai, March 18: Reigning champions Parsee Gymkhana made a surprising early exit suffering an embarrassing 77-run defeat at the hands of Bohra Cricket Club in a first round match of the 73^rd Nawab Salar Jung Invitation T20 Cricket Tournament, organised by the Islam Gymkhana under the auspices of the Mumbai Cricket Association and played at the Parsee Gymkhana ground, Marine Drive on Saturday.

Bohra CC’s all-rounder Japjeet Randhawa played a significant role in Parsee Gymkhana’s downfall. The opening batsman Randhawa first scored a 65-ball century 106 runs which was studded with nine boundaries and five powerful sixes and guided Bohra CC to a challenging total of 213 for the loss of 4 wickets from their quota of 20 overs. Omkesh Kamath unbeaten 40 runs (23-balls, 1×4,3×6), Ravindra Sante 22 runs and Rugved More 20 runs made useful contributions to the Bohra total, while Aakarshit Gomel (2 for 30) was Parsee Gymkhana best bowler.

The formidable Parsee Gymkhana started their chase on a positive note, but some disciplined bowling from the Bohra CC bowlers who picked wickets at crucial juncture managed to dismiss the rival for 136 in 16.5 overs. Randhawa played a key role with the ball as well and claimed 3 wickets for just five runs. Himanshu Singh 2 for 23 and Ravindra Sante 2 for 35 picked up the other wickets. Gomel 41 runs, Sagar Chabbria 25 runs and Vaibhav Kalamkar 22 runs tried to help Parsee Gymkhana put up a fight, but their efforts went in vain.

 Brief scores: Young Mohammedan CC 203 for 9 wickets, 20 overs (Akhil Herwadkar 50, Anish Choudhary 44, Sumeet Dhekale 22, Azhar Ahmed 22; Javed Khan 5 for 32, Iqbal Adbullah 2 for 31) beat Islam Gymkhana 170 all out, 19.1 overs (Karan Shah 54, Prasad Pawar 28, Rahul Kesari 27; Karsh Kothari 5 for 19, Saeed Shaikh 2 for 20, Akhtar Shaikh 2 for 24). Result: Young Mohammedan CC won by 33 runs.

Souvenir CC 190 for 4 wickets, 20 overs (Eknath Kerkar 64, Gautam Waghela 41, Raunaq Sharma 28*, Nikhil Patil Jr. 23; Salman Khan 2 for 33) beat Bombay Gymkhana 166 all out, 19.1 overs (Bhupen Lalwani 38, Agni Chopra 38, Wasim Sayyed 25, Usaid Cutler 23; Ayaz Khan 2 for 15, Irfan Umair 2 for 20, Shubham Pandey 2 for 36). Result: Souvenir CC won by 24 runs.

Bohra Cricketers 213 for 4 wickets, 20 overs (Japjeet Randhawa 106 (65-balls, 9×4,5×6), Omkesh Kamath 40* (23-balls, 1×4,3×6), Ravindra Sante 22, Rugved More 20; Aakarshit Gomel 2 for 30) beat Parsee Gymkhana 136 all out, 16.5 overs (Aakarshit Gomel 41, Sagar Chabbria 25, Vaibhav Kalamkar 22; Japjeet Randhawa 3 for 5, Himanshu Singh 2 for 23, Ravindra Sante 2 for 35). Result: Bohra Cricketers won by 77 runs.

Young Friends CC 136 for 7, 20 overs (Kartik Savla 33, Kurshid Alam 21; Ajay Mishra 2 for 16, Atif Shaikh 2 for 20, Dhrumil Matkar 2 for 25) lost to Marwari CC 138 for 5, 16.5 overs (Awais Khan 44, Dhrumil Matkar 42*; Imran Haq 2 for 24). Marwari CC won by 5 wickets.