Nanavati hospital wins the all important semi-finals on the back of collective team perfomance in the Times Cricket Shield ‘18

Played at the Karnatak SC, Cross Maidan, it was the all important semi-finals between Nanavati Super Speciality hospital and Shinrai Toyota where in Nanavati who have a quality bowling attack elected to bowl first in order to restrict the opposition to a low total and put them under pressure.

Their decision to bowl first was quite spot on as they successful restricted Shinrai Toyota to 178runs all out in 56.4 overs with Amir and Manesh Bhogle top scoring with 30’s while the rest of the batsman falling for 10’s and 20’s. Not a single batsman was about to convert their starts as the bowling was too tight where in Skipper Sahil Madgaonkar  leading from the front as  a leader shining with the ball scalping 4/25 in his 8.4 overs while spinner Atharva Ankolekar chipping in with 3/63 in 22 overs. Hero of the quarters Rahul Sawant also chipped in with 2wkts.

Chasing 179 is usually not a tough task but Nanavati did felt some early jitters where they were 3down for 32runs at one stage. However, Prakash aswani smashed 38 while the experience of Bhushan Shinde under crunch situations came in handy as he scored a match winning 61* off 70balls while he also got able support from the talented Atharva who also remained unbeaten with 44* to steer their team to a thumping semi-finals win. Nanavati who have fought hard throughout the tournament were the deserving semi-final winners where in Atharva’s all-round perfomance and Bhushan’s crucial 61 played a big role to register their place in the finals of the prestigious Times Shield.

CRICKETGRAPH