Vaibhav makes the difference for RCA

Forced to play back to back matches in the searing Delhi heat and many of their star players out with injuries,ONGC fizzled out in the quarters-finals of the 35th Lala Raghubir Cricket tournament at the Modern School on Wednesday

Forced to play back to back matches in the searing Delhi heat and many of their star players out with injuries,ONGC fizzled out in the quarters-finals of the 35th Lala Raghubir Cricket tournament at the Modern School on Wednesday,losing to a young Rajasthan Cricket Association team by five wickets. RCA will now take on Hargopal CC in the semi-finals on Friday.

Leading the way for RCA was left-hand batsman Vaibhav Deshpande,who unleashed a flurry of lofted shots,hitting eight boundaries and five sixes during his 66-ball 95. Ironically,Deshpande missed his century while attempting another lofted shot over long-on.

Chasing a modest 195,Deshpande was provided a excellent base by openers Ankit Lamba,who scored a half-century and Pranay Sharma as the openers raised a partnership of 48 runs. Runs flowed steadily and RCA took absolute control of the proceedings as ONGC bowlers lacked discipline,and finished the game in 32.5 overs .

Earlier, left-arm spinner Aristha Singhvi picked up three wickets and conceded just 34 runs to put the shackles on ONGC batsmen. Openers Tanmay Srivastava and Sandeep Sharma had scored 86 before spinner Singhvi spun a web in the middle overs. Radhey Shyam Gupta scored 45 and held one end together as ONGC collapsed in the late overs.

Brief scores: ONGC 194 for 7 in 40 overs ( Radhey Shyam 45,Tanmay Srivastava 44,Sandeep Sharma 33,Aristha Singhvi 3/34,Madhur Khatri 2/26) Rajasthan Cricket Association 196 for 5 in32.5 overs ( Vaibhav Deshpandey 95,Ankit Lamba 51,Pranay Sharma 26 ,Sumit Narwal 2/35)

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