On a comeback trail, Hardik Pandya turned in yet another all-round show to help Reliance 1 inch ahead to the semi-final of the DY Patil T20 Cup in Navi Mumbai. Pandya returned to competitive cricket last week after undergoing a back surgery.
The India all-rounder had on Tuesday smashed his way to a sensational 105 in just 39 balls. Pandya blasted a 29-ball 46 (1x4, 4x6) after being promoted to one-drop against DY Patil A and later, bowled a crucial spell of 2/39, as Reliance 1 emerged winner by a narrow margin of seven runs.
The star of Reliance 1’s batting was Anmolpreet Singh (93: 60b, 8x4, 3x6), who shared a rapid opening stand of 101 with India white ball opener Shikhar Dhawan (43: 28b, 6x4, 1x6).
The chase for DY Patil A almost worked out well with handy contributions, especially from Shubham Ranjane (43) and Rinku Singh (36), but their effort ended with the score at 198/9. For Reliance 1, Digvijay Deshmukh returned with figures of 3/25.
Reliance 1 will now face BPCL in the semi-final on Friday. BPCL got through after posting an impressive 190/4 in the first quarter-final against RBI. Akhil Herwadkar (65: 41b, 8x4, 1x6) was the key contributor alongside opener Aakarshit Gomel (36).
Two India white ball players Shivam Dube (33*) and Shreyas Iyer (18) also made their presence felt in BPCL innings. The chase for RBI was progressing well till they lost wickets at regular intervals to finish at 176/8, 14 short of the target.
The other semi-final on Friday will be played between Indian Oil and Western Railway. Meanwhile, Western Railway chased down a tall Income Tax total of 217/5. The chase for Western Railway was fashioned by half- centuries from Mrunal Devdhar (68), Asat Khan Pathan (67) and Ahad Malik. Western Railway romped home with five wickets to spare.
Indian Oil, meanwhile, chased down Indian Navy’s 183 with two wickets to spare. Aditya Tare played a captain’s knock as he slammed 44 -ball 56 (4x4, 2x6). Aiding Tare was Rohan Raje, who made 30 off 21 balls. Raje also made a useful contribution with the ball to finish with figures of 3/35. Indian Oil won the contest with two balls to spare.
