MPL semi-finals: It’s Pratapgad vs Torna,Sinhagad vs Raigad

Chasing a score of 123,both the Pratapgad openers,Swapneel Gugale and Shailesh Bhosale played solid knocks of 46 and 60 respectively,setting their team up for a comfortable win. Gugale scored 46 off 53 balls,while Bhosale carried his bat through the innings,scoring 60 off 49 balls. Gugale was ruin out in the 15 th over,while attempting a tired single. None of the Sindhudurg bowlers were able to make an impact. Pratapagad won the match with an over to spare.

Earlier,the Sindhudurg openers,Ajinkya Joshi and Kedar Jadhav game their team a solid base with knocks of 42 and 22 respectively,but the innings fell apart after the initial stand. Ameya Shrikhande,who came in at the dismissal of Jadhav,left without troubling the scorers. Among the middle order batsmen,Dhruv Mohan battled to score a run a ball 18,and P Madhavan scored 17 off 12 balls.

For the Pratapgad bowlers,Nandan Kamat took two wickets,while Samad Fallah,Shazad Fakih and Salil Agharkar took one each. In another match played at the PYC Hindu Gymkhana ground,the Shivneri Lions,chasing a huge target of 241 set by the Raigad Royals,fell short by 27 runs. In what could be described as a veritable run feast,Raigad’s Harshad Khadiwale unleashed a flurry of fours and sixes,scoring 87 of 42 balls. Khadiwale’s knock set the tone for the match,with the middle order batsmen like Rohit Motwani and Hanumant Pujare scoring 31 off 21 balls and 32 of 12 balls respectively. The Shivneri bowlers also gave away 16 extras. While S Pardeshi took 2 wickets,S Sureshnath,I Sayyed and S Pawar took one each.

The Panhala openers,Rohit Kakade and Vipul Jerurkar put up a wonderful century stand,Kakade scoring a quickfire 67 off just 30 balls,and Jerurkar getting to 47 off 26. After their exit,Vinayak Renuse took charge,scoring 69 off 34 balls. However,in the final analysis,the mounting run rate proved too much for the Panhala batsmen,who got out to desperate shots. The innings finally folded up for 213.

In the other matches of the day played in the morning,Panhala defeated Sinhagad Supremos by 90 runs,and Torna Tigers defeated the Devagiri Emperors by 7 wickets. In reply to Panhala’s 213,Sinhala managed a paltry 123. Torna easily overhauled the target of 155 set by Devagiri.