In-form Jiniv Joshi, promising Neil Narvekar and all-rounder Rakesh Naik star in the finals of SAP Invitation F-15 Tournament ‘18

Played at the Air India Ground, Kalina, this time it was the all important finale of the tournament where in L&t and Intelenet who have given their best throughout the tournament took on each other for a final knockout where in L&T won the toss and elected to field first with an aim of restricting the strong batting line up of Intelenet to a low total.

However, Intelenet hardly looked affected after being made to bat first as they notched up a big total of 173/3 in 15overs. Talented Jiniv Joshi who has scored some of the fastest hundreds recently in club cricket ensured that such an important game was taken care of with his blazing knock of 78runs in 34balls smashing 7fours and 4sixes. Apart from him, Neil Narvekar was equally destructive with the bat hitting 78runs in mere 30balls smashing 4fours and 7sixes to take the game away from the opposition. Both the boys stitched a match winning partnership while enthralling the crowd with their power hitting. What’s more all-rounder Rakesh Naik(20*off 9balls) and Kalpesh Sawant (28*) gave the finishing touch taking the team total to a big one. Delivering in the finals requires a lot of character and ability to soak up the pressure and Jiniv & Neil perfectly nailed it with their brutal batting.

Defending a behemoth total of 174 in mere 90balls, the pressure was on L&T to deliver. However, Rakesh Naik’s brilliant bowling spell of 4/17 in 3overs ensured that the opposition does not even come close to their team’s total. Rakesh has been bowling with great consistency and once again he rose his stake as one of the best utility all-rounders to have in the side. The rest of the bowlers were also equally supportive as L&T managed to score only 118/7 in 15overs.

This new format of tournament has been quite a success & it was a great team perfomance by the Intelenet Boys in the finals where in Neil and Jiniv stood out with the bat while Rakesh delivered an all-round contribution. Jiniv who has been in his purple patch was also declared ‘man of the series’ as well as the “Best batsman of the tournament”.

CRICKETGRAPH