Route SC wins the semis while Prathamesh Pawar gives his best for Reliance Group in the Thane Vaibhav Tournament
It was the all important semi-final match of the tournament at the Bharat CC Ground, Shivaji Park and an exciting competition was bound to happen as both Reliance & Route SC are strong teams & have fought their way hard to reach the semi-finals of the tournament. Route SC won the toss & elected to bat first and put Reliance group under pressure by posting a healthy total on the board.
Opener Pranay Patil was out for 1 but Arun Yadav & no.3 batsman Vishal Dagaonkar played good cricket to stabilize the Route’s innings. Arun Yadav 48(47) & Vishal 54(42) stitched a magnificent partnership & also kept the scorecard ticking as both the players smashed around 11 boundaries and a six collectively together. Siddarth and Sumit at the middle order also chipped in with a quick 32 & 25 respectively which helped their team total reach a respectable 231/10 in 35 overs. Right arm off-spinner Prathamesh Pawar was the pick of the bowlers taking 3/53 in 7 overs. Pawar did a great job with the ball followed by 2 wkts each for Mangesh Jadhav, Omkar Jadhav & Rohit Bhalla.
Chasing 232 in 35 overs, Reliance group were off to a good start with their opener Rohit Kher scoring 58 off 51 balls & no.3 batsman Sanket Jadhav scoring a fluent 44. That was not all as their all-rounder Prathamesh Pawar scored a scored a magnificent 91* off just 77 balls(5 fours). Prathamesh who had taken 3 wickets was also the star batsman for Reliance. The rest of the batmen were not able to give much of a support but Prathamesh kept on fighting till the end. In fact 13 runs were needed of the last over & Reliance lost the match falling short of just 6runs as they managed to reach 225/6 in 35 overs. Siddarth was the pick of the bowers taking 2/20 in 4 overs followed by their left arm spinner Hitesh Parmar who took 2/33 in 7 overs.
It was a well-fought match and both the teams gave their best. Infact this is how semi final matches should be! Prathamesh Pawar who scored 91* and took 3 wkts was adjudged ‘man of the match’. Cricketgraph wishes him luck and also wishes Route SC to keep playing such good brand of cricket in the finals and win the tournament.