Skipper Santosh Bandarkar steers Godrej Staff to a thriller of a semi-finals win in the Thane Vaibhav Tournament ‘18

Played between Godrej Staff and Mukand Sports Club at the Dombivali Gymkhana, it was the all important semi-finals between these two teams where in Mukand Sports won the toss and elected to bat first in order to put the opposition under pressure.

Mukand SC batting first were all out for 160runs in 30.2 overs which is definitely not the best of the scores to defend. Even though hardly any batsmen converted their starts with their top order getting out quickly. It was their middle order bats Jay (36) and Mayank Dixit (40) who contributed with a crucial stand which saved them from an embarrassingly low total. Medium pacer Civek Singh with 3/26 was the pick of the bowlers while the rest of the bowlers also bowled really tight hardly allowing the batsman to score freely.

With an excellent fightback by Mukand SC, Godrej Staff  were struggling at one point with 8wkts down for 95runs while chasing but it was their skipper Santosh Bandarkar who rose to the occasion as he scored a match winning 53* off 50balls to take his team to a thriller of a win. Santosh smashed boundaries while also co-ordinate well with the lower order showing his wit and experience on the field. Dhiraj Gavhane with 5/24 bowled an excellent spell but it was eventually Godrej’s skipper Santosh who sealed the finals spot for his team in the tournament.

CRICKETGRAPH