Opener Ankit Shastri’s 166 & Kumar Boresa’s stunning 11wkt haul steers Nirlon to a commanding win in the Times Shield ‘17
Played at the National CC ground in Mumbai, it was a match between two big experienced teams namely Reliance and Nirlon sports club where in both the teams have talented bunch of players in their playing XI. Reliance who won the toss elected to field first as they have a strong bowling attack to restrict Nirlon to a low total and capitalize.
Their decision to field first was however not the most accurate as Nirlon went on to score a mammoth 566/6 in 87 overs with the help of their classy left-handed opener Ankit Shastri as he scored a stroke filled 166 off just 178balls (21 fours and 5sixes). Ankit played some really great cricketing shots which were a treat to watch while also did good running between the wickets to keep the scoreboard ticking. Abhishek Srivastav at no.4 also gave a great support as he scored an aggressive 138 off 133balls. It was definitely the start provided by Ankit which set the tone for the innings while the rest of the batsman continued the positive momentum left behind by the openers. Nirlon in reply bundled out Reliance to just 232/all out in 43.2 overs in the 1st innings wherein in-form Chinmay smashed 127 off just 84 deliveries. The rest of the batsman struggled apart from Chinmay and opener Sachin V who scored 47. Experienced left arm spinner Kumar boresa who has also played IPL displayed his wizardry with the ball as he came up with excellent bowling figures of 6/74 in 15.2 overs which included 4 maidens. Medium pacer Som Singh Rawal also bowled well as he took 3wkts.
With a healthy lead of 334runs, Nirlon once again pounced with full force with the ball as they bundled out Reliance for just 67runs in the 2nd innings after giving them a follow on. Left arm spinner Kumar Boresa once again continued to trouble the batsman with his wily spin as he took another 5/26 in the 2nd innings taking his tally of wickets to 11 in the match. This time he also got great support from Arvind Patel who also bowled equally well in the 2nd innings taking 5/33 in 10 overs. Nirlon won the match by an innings and 267runs and it was definitely Ankit shastri, Kumar Boresa and Arvind who stood out in the match with their individual performances. Cricketgraph congratulates the winning team while wishes luck to all the players for their upcoming matches.
CRICKETGRAPH