Badave helps RCA win

Published May 16

B D Narayankar

bapun@sakalherald.com

PASHAN: Vaibhav Badave gave a convincing victory to his team Rajput Cricket Academy after notching up a strokeful innings of 111 runs not out with 16 hits to the fence and three towering sixes behind square-leg umpire. Rajput Cricket Academy chased 150 runs put on by Deccan Gymkhana at the rate of 7.9 per over after losing four wickets in the Late Kasturi Rangachar Memorial Under-19 Cricket Tournament played at NCL Ground here on Tuesday.

Badave bludgeoned almost all Deccan Gymkhana bowlers to the park pulling, hooking and lofting over the bowlers head. As soon as he arrived in the middle, he took charge and showed sings of aggression. The unexpected attack played on the bowlers’ mind and they bowled to his strength on the legside.

The Rajputs received early blows when two of its top-order batsmen were back in the pavilion at the score of four. But kudos to Badave, he tore the bowlers apart from the first ball without bothering much about the precarious situation of his team was in.

What was bemusing was – he plundered 82 runs in boundaries and scored 80-odd runs in the 106-runs partnership with his partner Rahul Gaikwad who scored 19.

For Deccan, Rahul Tripathy was the best bowler scalping 2 wickets for 19.

Earlier, Deccan piled up a total of 150 for 8 in 25 overs.

RANJANE WINS: In a separate game, it was a bowlers’ day out for both Ranjane Cricket Academy (RCA) and Western Pune Cricket Academy (WPCA).

RCA registered a 55-runs win against WPCA after they won the toss and decided to bat first. They scored 159 runs for 9 in 25 overs and bundled out WPCA for 104 runs. After losing first three wickets for 65 runs on the board, a 65-runs partnership between Shankar Katke and Abhijit Ghadage put RCA somewhat on the track.

Just when they were looking ominous, Ghadage (26) was unnecessarily involved in a run out. Medium pacer Prashant Pol produced a beautiful delivery to get rid of RCA top-scorer Katke for 52 and thereafter RCA fell like pack of cards losing five wickets for 22 runs and completed their innings at 159 for 9 in 25 overs.

Spinners – Rushabh Rathod and Rohit Sonawne – raced through RCA innings claiming two wickets each in the death when the batsmen tried to accelerate.

The good show put up by WPCA bowlers and fielders was wasted by their batsmen as none of them reached double figures, except Prashant Pol (30 runs) and Dinesh Chikkagouda (13).

WPCA’s start was horrible with Dinesh wasting 18 balls in his entire innings. This show had lot of impact on Prashant who played some extravagant shots. He ultimately fell to off-spinner Rohit Karanjekar reaching out to a well-flighted ball that beat him hitting his pad before disturbing the furniture.

RCA tweakers bowled their hearts out claiming eight wickets. Rohit Karanjekar hauled five wickets for 27 runs and Vipul Raut three for 11 in mere 2.4 overs. RCA bowlers ran through WPCA innings once Pol (59 runs) left the scene.

SCORES: Deccan Gymkhana 150 for 8 in 25 overs (Rahul Desai 37, Shoumit Bhide 38, Vikrant Nimhan 27 n o, Ganesh Raut 3 for 26, Sagar Parki 2 for 38, Wasim Inamdar 2 for 19) lost to Rajput Cricket Academy 151 for 4 in 19.1 overs (Vaibhav Badave 111 n o, Rahul Tripathy 2 for 19); RCA 159 for 9 in 25 overs (Shankar Katke 52, Abhijit Ghadage 26, Amol Jagdale 2 for 22, Rohit Sonawne 2 for 26) beat WPCA 104 all out in … (Prashant Pol 39, Rohit Karanjekar 5 for 27, Vipul Raut 3 for 11, Shivam Malhotra 2 for 16)