Journalism of Courage
In a battle of nerves,the Raigad Royals kept their wits about them to defeat the Pratapgad Warriors by six wickets in the finals of the Maharashtra Premier League played at the Deccan Gymkhana here on Thursday.
Pratapgad,batting first,put up a total of 121,which was never going to be enough against the batting firepower of the Royals. The Pratapgad openers,Shailesh Bhosale and Pankaj Kalyankar were dismissed for 16 and 13 respectively. Bhosale perished to a beauty delivered by Raigad skipper Harshad Khadiwale,which was cleanly taken by Rohit Motwani behind the stumps.
The rest of the Pratapgad batsmen tried to up the ante in the last few overs,but could not get the boundaries that were so sorely needed at that stage.Among the Pratapgad bowlers,N Salekar took three wickets,skipper Harshad Khadiwale took two,and S Patel one. Khadiwale was the pick of the bowlers,having given just 19 off his four overs.
Raigad began on a confident note,but soon received a jolt when Rohan Bhosale was bowled by Ninad Kamat for 8. Khadiwale soon followed him to the pavilion,dismissed by S Fakih for 18. This brought Sangram Atitkar and Rohit Motwani together at the crease,and the pair laid the base for a successful chase of the Warriors total. Atitkar,batting fluently,got 44 off 37 deliveries. Motwani chipped in with a useful 22.
Atitkar was stumped while stepping out to a flighted delivery by Ninad Kamat. Nikhil Paradkar and Hanumant Pujare then finished off the job with over three overs to spare.
