Jitesh purabiya’s half century and two wicket-haul goes in vain as ICICI go down to Montage by 6 runs

The nail biting contest between Montage and ICICI was witnessed on Wednesday during the Automotive Cricket League T20 2018-19 at MIG Bandra, Mumbai. Winning the toss and electing to bat first, Montage posed a respectable total of 157-8 in 20 overs. Middle order bat Aman Rajawat top scored with 57 off 44, and his innings was laced with six boundaries and three sixes. For ICICI, Nikhil Mandavkar and Jitesh purabiya picked up two wickets each.

In reply, ICICI did on get off to the best of starts as they lost their opening bat Karan Sonavale cheaply in the very first over. The other opening batsman Jitesh purabiya (59 off 49) and no. 3 bat Shlok (49 off 39) put their heads down and stitched a solid partnership of 100 runs for the second wicket. purabiya started off slowly but gradually accelerated, hitting three boundaries and as many sixes in his fighting knock. Things were looking good for ICICI but with the fall of Shlok’s wicket, the match took another turn. ICICI’s middle order collapsed in quick succession and in the end the team fell short of six runs (151-8 in 20 overs). For Montage, Kranti Kumar was the pick of the bowlers accounting for 3-19 in his two overs. Kumar received good support from Mohit Swasthi and Ramsarkh Yadav, both of them scalping couple of wickets apiece.

Though the match was won by Montage, the Man of the Match award was presented to ICICI’s Jitesh purabiya for his all-round performance. Jitesh averred, “After the loss of our first wicket in the first over, it was important for me and Shlok to steady the innings and we did that quite well. Unfortunately our middle order did not click and in the end we failed to see ourselves home. The wicket was good to bowl as well. I could generate enough pace from the wicket and am happy that I could grab a couple of wickets. I hope to continue my performance in the upcoming fixtures that will help my team to win”.