IndiaFirst Life Insurance wins a thriller of a match in the Jolly Friends T20 Tournament ’18

IndiaFirst Life Insurance faced-off against Wrong UNS in the first League Match of the prestigious Jolly Friends Sports Club T20 Cricket Tournament 2018 at Dadar Union, Matunga Gymkhana on the 17th of November.

In the closely fought contest, Wrong UNS Skipper Vikas Bhatt won the Toss and elected to field on a wet pitch. Despite his Team losing a wicket in the 1st over, Vice Captain Ramana Meesala ensured his team got to a flying start (44/1 in 5 Overs) by lacing 33 off 16 Balls that contained 3 fours & 2 big sixes. An economical Spell from off-spinner Prathamesh Raul (4-0-18-2) and 3 wickets from Right-arm Medium Pacer Kushal, along with some good catching and safe fielding put the brakes on the rampage though.

Useful contributions from Pushkar Sharma (28) with 2 boundaries and 1 six & Rupen Chaurasiya (20) kept the innings going. But it was the late Inning cameos from Sanket Teli (16 off 10) & Swaminathan GK ensured that their Team set a fighting Target of 150 off 20 Overs, which at one point seemed like touching a mere 130.

Starting the Chase, Wrong UNS got to a disastrous start with two unnecessary run outs in the backdrop of some hostile fast bowling by Right-arm Bowler Aaraf Shaikh. Thereafter, their innings was steadied by Avinash Shetty and Vikas. A Pulled six by Avinash against Aaraf was a treat to watch. At 100/2, with just 50 needed off 40 Balls and with 8 Wickets to spare, they seemed to be cruising. That was until Off-spinner Babli Sharma (who gave away his Wicket-keeping Gloves to Rupen before coming on to Bowl) got Vikas beautifully caught by Pushkar at the extra cover boundary and Aaraf got his revenge by getting Avinash’s prized Wicket (53 off 34; 3 Fours & 3 Sixes).

Some fine Batting from Prathamesh (24 off 15 Balls) brought the equation down to just 16 off 17 balls with 6 Wickets to go. But an excellent Arm Ball from Babli got him Bowled, in an Over that saw just 1 run in the first 5 balls. A quicker final Ball beat the Keeper for 4 Byes, marking the end of an excellent Spell of 4-0-22-2.

With 13 required off 12 Balls with 5 Wickets remaining, Aaraf put his hands up and conceded just 3 Runs and took a wicket. An excellent diving save by Babli at the Long-off Boundary saved 2 crucial Runs.

Now it was all down to IndiaFirst Skipper Ajish Abdul Rehman, who had bowled 3 overs of good fast bowling till then, to defend 10 runs in the last over. A stupendous diving stop by Rupen that saved a definite 5 wides down the leg side, apart from getting a run-out at the non-striker’s end was one of the many turning points in this seesaw of a match. Overall, it was a good Fielding effort from the entire unit. One more run out later, with 4 required off the last ball, Ajish kept his cool to give away just one bye, ensuring that his Team IndiaFirst Won the Match by a narrow margin of 2 Runs.

Ramana was adjudged Man of the Match for his All-round performance. IndiaFirst plays its next League Match on the 24th.

Ajish Rehman