Cricket: State team on top,Down Under

The Maharashtra Cricket Team secured a victory during their ongoing tour of Australia in fine style,beating local team NT Strike in a Twenty20 match at Kahlin on Sunday.

The home side won the toss and elected to bat first,a decision that immediately seemed to backfire as Maharashtra bowler Samad Fallah captured the wicket of opener Ben Cooper in the first ball he faced.

The NT Strike batting lineup then continued to lose wickets at regular intervals,as the Maharashtra side produced an excellent bowling and fielding performance to skittle them out for just 95 in 18.1 overs. Ganesh Gaikwad was the pick of the bowlers for Maharashtra,taking three wickets while giving away just 14 runs in his four-over spell. Kishor Bikane pitched in with a couple of wickets,while Samad Fallah and Sanjay Pardeshi took one each.

Brett Gardiner fought a losing battle for the hosts,scoring 33 off 43 balls .

In response to their opponents’ meager score,the Maharashtra lineup got a good start thanks to opener Rohan Bhosale’s innings. Bhosale scored 20 off 17 balls before losing his wicket. Rahul Tripathy then came onto the field and played a scintillating knock of 35 from just 29 balls to put his team firmly in the driver’s seat. They did have to face a few jitters ,losing a few quick wickets later on. However,Wagmare kept his cool after coming in at No.6 and scored a quick 15 off 16 balls to see his team through to the end. Matthew Hanna and Ben Cooper took a couple of wickets each for the NT Strike team,but Maharashtra cruised to a well-deserved victory.

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