GSK edge out Nomura to enter Milan Corporate League Semi-final

Venue: Cross Maidan, Plot 7

In the quarter final of Milan Corporate League (Red Ball), GSK defeated Nomura by 3 wickets in the very last over of the innings to book the semi-final seat. Man of the Match, Sagar S, first played his part in restricting Nomura to an average total by bowling a tight line and then emerged as the top scorer in GSK’s innings.

In this knockout encounter, Nomura was lucky with the coin and opted to bat first. But they were not so lucky when the innings began as opener Bhavik was clean bowled on the very first ball of the match by Pratik S. Unfortunately the other opener Pushkar retired hurt but Inderjeet got an able support from Anshul and both of them took the score past 100. Just when things were looking good for Nomura and acceleration was about the start, Inderjeet was run out after a well-made 52 that was studded with 8 boundaries. Soon, Anshul also made a long walk back to the pavilion and GSK bowlers controlled the last quarter of Nomura’s innings with some excellent bowling display. Nomura eventually ended for 131 runs for the loss of 8 wickets in their allotted 20 overs. Ganesh scalped 2 wickets while Pratik, Sagar S and Prathamesh shared a wicket each. Prathamesh particularly tightened the screws and gave only 18 runs in his 4 overs.

131 was not really a challenging total but it still had to be chased. GSK were on for a decent start with openers Sagar S and Pratik S scoring 25 runs in 20 balls. GSK bowler then took his revenge from Pratik by scalping his wicket when the batsman was on 8, breaking the partnership in the process. Rahul joined Sagar in the middle and both calmly moved the scoreboard past 50. Sagar lost his wicket while he was playing well at 34 of just 24 balls. There might have been some tension in GSK camp as the third and fourth wickets fell in quick succession but the rest of the batsmen contributed well enough to enable their team cross the line with only 2 balls to spare.  Bhavik and Deepak were the pick of the bowlers with 2 wickets each.

Nomura bowlers showed great commitment and energy while defending a small total but it was the lack of power hitting in their innings that did them in and ultimately cost them the semi-final spot.

Brief Scores:

Nomura: 131/8 in 20 overs (Inderjeet 52, Anshul 23, Ganesh 2/28)

GSK: 134/7 in 19.4 overs (Sagar S 34, Rahul 23, Bhavik 2/28, Deepak 2/35)

Report By:

Sumanyu Jain

Regional Manager & Editor| www.cricketgraph.com