PRAVEEN Lokhande, for the third consecutive time, turned out to be the hero for The Hitavada as the defending champions streamrolled Sakal by six wickets to enter Super Six of the 12th Orange City Hospital Cup Inter-Press Invitational Twenty20 Cricket Tournament at Dr Ambedkar College ground. Loksatta and Sakal too qualified for the Super Six on Saturday. With other The Hitavada batsmen toiling hard to get going, Lokhande brutally kept on whacking the Sakal bowlers. With two successive wins under their belt, The Hitavada decided to shuffle their batting order while chasing a modest target of 85 runs set by Sakal. The Hitavada were off to a bad start losing their reliable opener Rahul Dixit and Hitesh Limbachia in the first over itself with just one run on the board. Kishor Jamkar first removed Rahul Dixit taking a quick reflex catch off his own bowling and then sent Limbachia packing in the very third delivery of the over. Kamlesh (21; 15b, 4x2, 6x1) and Susheem Kolay (16; 19b, 4x2) settled some nerves in the dressing room. The Hitavada once again found themselves in a spot of bother with skipper Kolay back in the hut after being involved in a mix up with his partner. But Lokhande carried on from where he left a couple of days earlier thrashing the bowlers to every corner of ground. He hammered a 10-ball 38 runs including four fours and three sixes as The Hitavada romped home in 10.2 overs.Earlier, The Hitavada bowlers did a splendid job to restrict Sakal to 84 runs for nine wickets in 20 overs. Kolay (2-8), Lokhande (2-10) and Rammurthy Nerle (2-13) bowled economic spells. Rahul Dixit too scalped a wicket.In the other match played at Ajni ground, Loksatta defeated Punyanagari by seven runs. Loksatta, owing to contributions from Piyush Patil (30), Nitin Salunkhe (27) and Uday Rangnath (26), posted 158 for six wickets in 20 overs. Punyanagari’s Chetan Nandanwar (55) and Sunil Thavkar (51) slammed half centuries but the rest did not click. Punyanagari could manage 151 runs in 20 overs.
Sunday’s fixture: Lokmat vs Tarun Bharat at Dr Ambedkar College ground; Times of India vs Dainik Bhaskar at Ajni.
Report courtesy The Hitavada
Pic by Aniruddhasingh Dinore
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