Opener Akhil Herwadkar shone yet again for the ARCS Andheri in their T20 Mumbai League match against Shivaji Park Lions, as his magnificent inning of 79* ensured a thrilling five-wicket victory for his team in the afternoon game at the Wankhede Stadium on May 17.
Having already played a couple of matches, the ARCS were fairly familiar with the sticky nature of the pitch and the slow outfield during the afternoon game and thereby opted to bowl which turned out to be the perfect decision. Captain Kevin Almeida got a breakthrough in just the third over, as Sachin Yadav’s attempted heave over mid-on went straight to Pankaj Jaiswal and the opener walked back after scoring 10 off nine deliveries.
However, fellow opener Swapnil Pradhan made full use of the powerplay overs and smashed 33 off 22 balls through first six, as the Lions finished with 47 on the board. However, just after the powerplay, the Lions lost their second wicket to a run-out, courtesy of Andheri skipper Almeida’s brilliant work in the field. In the very next over, veteran spinner Iqbal Abdulla dismissed Pradhan just six short of a century, leaving the Lions three down for 60.
Pacer Tushar Deshpande came back into the attack and picked up a wicket as the Lions found themselves in a hole barely halfway through the inning. Captain Siddhesh Lad and star all-rounder Shivam Dube steadily built a partnership to get their inning back on track, but Abdulla came back into the attack and broke it with a brilliant delivery that dismissed Dube for just nine runs.
Replacing him out in the centre was all-rounder Raunaq Sharma who took his time to early in his inning before exploding in the death overs. In the 19th over, Sharma smashed 11 runs off four deliveries to get the score up to 135 and in the 20th, the all-rounder smashed three straight sixes to cap off the inning with a massive 22-run over and take his team to 157-6 in their batting effort.
In reply, ARCS Andheri opener Sufiyan Shaikh smashed 20 off the first two overs and his partner Akhil Herwadkar, who had a brilliant outing in his team’s previous encounter, joined in on the act and smashed 20 off 11 deliveries, as pair two got their team off to the perfect start.
The two openers continued their onslaught, but their partnership was soon broken after Shaikh skied a delivery from Dube in the sixth over which Shivam Malhotra lapped up for the first wicket of the inning. A couple of overs later, Malhotra came into the attack and picked up a huge wicket, as the dangerous Shubham Ranjane missed a full delivery from the pacer and had to walk back after scoring 11 off 12 deliveries.
Next in was captain Kevin Almeida who also didn’t last long out in the center, scoring six before being dismissed by Tanush Kotian with the scoreboard reading 96-3 after 11.3 overs. The next four overs yielded just 15 runs, pushing the required run rate all the way up to 12 with just four overs left in the contest.
A 13-run 17th over eased the pressure slightly on the ARCS, but a magnificent over from Siddharth Raut, where he bowled three dot ball and picked up the wicket of Jaiswal, left the batting side needing 32 off the final two overs. All-rounder Azhar Ansari smashed a six followed by a boundary on the first two balls of the 19th over before giving the strike to Herwadkar, who replicated his partner’s effort as the pair smashed 23 to leave themselves with just nine to get off the final over.
Ansari’s six off the first ball of the over had seemingly finished the contest but the all-rounder was dismissed on the very next ball to add to the drama in the contest. However, Abdulla and Herwadkar held their nerve to get those remaining three runs and ensure a second straight win for the ARCS Andheri.
Brief Score:
ARCS Andheri (Akhil Herwadkar 79, Sufiyan Shaikh 25, Shivam Dube 2-41) beat Shivaji Park Lions (Raunaq Sharma 51*, Swapnil Pradhan 44, Iqbal Abdulla 2-16)
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