Kotak decimate Airtel to enter Milan Red Ball T20 Final
Riding on a superlative show from the bowlers and some sensible batting, Kotak defeated Airtel One by 8 wickets with more than 3 overs to spare to enter the final of Milan Corporate League, Champions Division. It was an important match for both teams as it would have brought them within the winning distance to the trophy. But as is the rule, only one will advance and it was Kotak’s day in the field.
Put in to bat first after losing the toss, Airtel were off to a nightmarish start. They lost Jitesh in the second over of the innings. As it turned out, it was not only a nightmarish start but a day to forget for Airtel as none of their batsmen could really stand up to Kotak bowlers as the innings crumbled to 82 all out in just the 15th over. Only Kalpesh (13), Mayank (21) and Prakash (16*) could enter doublt digits as the rest of the batting collapsed. Kotak’s bowlers had a great day. Meer captured 4 wickets and gave away only 10 runs while Tushar scalped 3. Bhavesh and Sagar managed 2 and 1 wicket respectively.
The writing was on the wall after the first innings itself but 83 still had to be chased. After losing Premal cheaply, Ritin and Ajit played sensibly and showed no urgency to overhaul the score. Ritin got out on a personal score of 17. Ranjit joined Ajit in the middle and with no further hiccups, they chased down the total in the 17th over. Airtel’s bowlers bowled well but there wasn’t much hope with such a low total to defend. Ravi and Prakash managed a wicket each.
Meer Ibrahm, for his devastating spell of 4-1-10-4 was adjudged man of the match.
Airtel’s Kalpesh Mehta says, “We tried to be too aggressive and played too many shots and lost early wickets. Therefore we were not able to build the momentum. We bowled well to get Kotak to play till the 17th over but the score was too less to pose a challenge to Kotak batsmen.”
Brief Scores:
Airtel One: 82 All out in 14.5 overs (Mayank 21, Prakash 16, Meer 4/10, Tushar 3/19)
Kotak: 85/2 in 16.2 overs (Ajit 32*, Ranjit 31*, Ravi 1/15, Prakash 1/23)
Match Report by:
Sumanyu Jain
Regional Manager & Editor @CricketGraph