Sports Journalists' Association of Nagpur

Nerlay, Dixit romp Hitavada to Super Six

Nine-time champs crush Tarun Bharat by 117 runs;

Punyanagari beat Loksatta by 45 runs


TWENTY one deliveries. That is all it took him to send more than half of the Tarun Bharat side back in the hut. It seemed that The Hitavada’s Rammurti Nerlay was a man in a hurry for the southpaw grabbed six wickets giving just six runs to help his side spank Tarun Bharat by 117 runs in the Orange City Hospital Cup 13th Inter-Press Invitational Twenty20 Cricket Tournament, organised by Sports Journalists’ Association of Nagpur at Vasant Nagar ground, on Thursday.
The reigning champions secured a place in the Super Six stage of the tournament along with Punyanagari, who defeated Loksatta by 45 runs in the other match.
Put into bat, The Hitavada received early jolts losing Kamlesh Waghire and last match’s centurion Praveen Lokhande. Seamer Vijay Choure first disturbed Waghire’s furniture while Nitin Baitule got the big fish in Lokhande. Opener Rahul Dixit in the company of Nikhil Dixit then took over scoring runs at a brisk rate. Rahul Dixit, in particular, was on fire, cracking nine fours and three sixes in his 43-ball 79 runs knock. Nikhil Dixit scored 28 (4x4).
The Dixit brothers stitched 79 runs off 51 balls for the fourth wicket to give The Hitavada innings a solid platform. Pawan Sawade (39; 20b, 7x4) made useful contribution towards the end as The Hitavada posted 188 for six wickets in 20 overs. Tarun Bharat’s Baitule got 2 for 30.
Tarun Bharat were off to a solid start courtesy their openers. However, two run outs in quick succession forced them to go into a shell. The stage was perfectly set for Nerlay, who claimed two wickets off consecutive deliveries in his very first over to start the slide. It kept on getting better from then on as the spinner went on to record the best ever bowling performance with dream figures of 3.3-0-6-6. Sawade and Nikhil Dixit too pocketed one wicket apiece as Tarun Bharat were wrapped up for a mere 71 in 12.3 overs.
At Dr Ambedkar College ground, Punyanagari beat Loksatta by 45 runs to move into Super Six. Batting first, Punyanagari posted 130 for 9 in 20 overs with Pankaj Pande top scoring with 42. Umesh Tekade (22) was the other run getter. Bhaskar Choudhary took a couple of wickets for Loksatta. In reply, Loksatta were bundled out for 85 all out in 17.3 overs. Piyush Patil (27) and Sachin Turak (24) were the major run scorers. Punyanagari’s Vaibhav Sonwane (3-20) and Pankaj Pande (2-6) did most of the damage.
Friday’s fixtures: Lokmat vs Dainik Bhaskar at Dr Ambedkar College ground; Sakal vs Lokshahi Varta at Vasant Nagar ground.