Ajay Chavan, Samad Fallah bowl Poona Club to victory

Photo: Anand Chaini

Samad Fallah going back to his bowling run up

B D Narayankar

bapun@sakalherald.com

PUNE: Captain Ajay Chavan shined with both bat and ball and helped Poona Club to register a thumping victory against rivals Raigad Cricket Academy in the two-day MCA Senior League Tournament played here on Friday.

Ajay, first scored 58 not out in the morning to take his team to a respectable total, and then bowled a couple of fiery spell along with Samad Fallah to clean up rival’s to a paltry 150.

Resuming their innings from the overnight score of 55 for three, Poona Club’s Prem Ahire showed shines of confidence and was middling the ball beautifully. He scored exquisite shots through covers and flicked with awesome power of Raigad pacemen and spinners.

Troubled gripped Poona Club when Ahire was sent back to the hut scoring a 79 on a wicket doing a bit due to the gloomy weather conditions. Varun Panigrahi (36) and Pankaj Kalyankar (49) then picked up the gauntlet and added invaluable 50-odd runs for the team.

Soon Chavan came into the middle and started blazing the ball right from the word go. He took the team to a winning position, before the final collapse.

Continuing their bowling from where they had left in the first innings, Ajay and Samad devasted Raigad batsmen in the second innings too.

Playing in home conditions, Ajay and Samad did not take much time to find their rhythm. They unsettled the batsmen with nagging line and length, and at times made them smell the cherry with unplayable bouncers.

Soon Ajay and (3 for 58) and Samad (4 for 41) ran through the Raigad innings bowling them out for 150 runs.

SCORES: Raigad I innings 79 all out in 24.1 overs; Poona Club 268 all out in 60.1 overs (Prem Ahire 79, Varun Panigrahi 36, Pankaj Kalyankar 49, Ajay Chavan 58 n o, Satish Salunke 2 for 66, Uday Gadre 3 for 79, Yogesh Pawar 2 for 42, Sanjay Solanki 2 for 21; Raigad II Innings 150 all out in 35.5 overs (Arman Sheikh 35, Prashant Rajan 34, Sanjay Solanki 21, Ajay Chavan 3 for 58, Samad Fallah 4 for 41, Nikhil Kotwal 2 for 0