Chintan creates history, belts 108 before lunch

Photo: Mukund Bhute

Prayag Bhati of Cadence waiting to grab a catch which he
eventually dropped

B D Narayankar

bapun@sakalherald.com

PUNE: Opener Chintan Pashankar of Cadence Cricket Academy (CCA) niched his name in record books scoring a century before lunch in his 174-runs knock on the first day of MCA Under-19 Invitation Super League Tournament played at Yerawada Jail Ground here on Friday.

All that, he did in the presence of Chief Maharashtra Coach Chandrakant Pandit, who was on an hunting-spree to spot new talent before announcing the Ranji squad. He later galvanized Chintan to go for a big one during the lunch session, which he obliged.

Chintan reeled off 22 boundaries and a six in his scintillating knock that helped Cadence to pile up 336 runs in 54.3 overs.

He could easily had made his idol Virendra Sehwag proud watching him tear apart bowlers as he usually does in the middle.

Never for once did he look nervous, as he took on Kolhapur bowlers in the early hours of the day when the ball was moving around. He lunged forward to play his favorite on-drive to open his account with a boundary.

This shot was enough for the lad who believed in getting his first 30-odd runs quickly and then slowing down things to get to 50 and raise the tempo again until he reached 80.

Resuming his innings after lunch, he carried on making mincemeat of Kolhapur bowlers. He square-drove, on-drove, cut, reverse swept and straight drove. Surely he was a delight.

He also was involved in a 150-odd runs partnership with last-match centurion Udit Birla (43), being a senior mate, gave useful tips to him. He had an useful partnership with alrounder Omkar Patil (33) too.

Declaring the innings at 336 for nine, Cadence bowlers, especially Nitesh Salekar mesmerized Kolhapur batsmen, picking up three wickets for 13 runs.

Apart from some resistance shown by Vishant More (41 not out), no other Kolhapur batsmen contributed for the team. At stumps, Kolhapur were precariously placed at 97 for five.

SCORES: CCA I Innings: 336 for 9 in 54.3 overs (Chintan Pashankar 174, Udit Birla 43, A Kate 104 for 3); Kolhapur I Innings: 97 for 5 in 33 overs (Vishant More 41 n o, Abhijeet Redekar 33, Nitish Salekar 13 for 3)