Mangesh Palav’s match winning 61 steers NL Dalmia to a win in the Howzatt T20 cricket tournament
It was the all important 2nd qualifier match for NL Dalmia vs Somaiya Institute at Oval Maidan in Mumbai. It was very important to win the match as the winner of this match would advance into the finals of the tournament. Winning the toss, Somaiya elected to field first in order to restrict Dalmia to a low total.
Somaiya succeeded in restricting them to just 122/9 in 20 overs and it was certainly a good performance by the Somaiya bowlers. Prerak was the pick of the bowlers for Somaiya as he took 3/27 in 4 overs. Dalmia were struggling at one point and were not looking good for even 120, but it was their skipper Mangesh Palav who came and changed the game for his side. Coming in at no.3, Mangesh Palav kept on scoring runs freely though wickets were tumbling from the other side. Mangesh scored a brilliant 48 ball 61 which included 6 boundaries. He also did a lot of running between the wickets and kept the scoreboard ticking.
Somaiya who succeeded in restricting Dalmia to a low total however did not succeeded with their batting as they lost the match by 4 runs. It was a nail biting encounter which remained exciting till the last over and the last ball of the game. Right arm pacer Chintan Pandya(2/21 in 4) bowled a superb last over where he conceded only 5 out of 10 runs. Deepak Jaju also bowled well for his 2/20 in 4 overs. Eventually NL Dalmia won the match by 4 runs and it was a wonderful team performance by the Dalmia boys.
Looking at the tough fight given by the NL Dalmia team in the qualifiers, they will certainly be a tough team to crack in the finals of the tournament.
