Anglo Urdu advance

PUNE, Dec 4: A scintillating knock of 83 runs by Mehtab Khan was the highlight of Anglo Urdu Boys High School’s 76 run victory against Shree Shivaji Preparatory Memorial School (SSPMS) Day, in the semi-final encounter of the seniors inter school limited overs cricket tournament for the Pudumjee Shield here today.

Mehtab Khan (83) and Shakti Bidkani (44) stood tall amongst the Anglo Urdu batsmen who fell cheaply. After the opening pair of Zaheer Abbas and Kamruddin Shaikh departed early, the duo of Mehtab and Shakti steadied the innings, lending some respectability to the total for the Anglo Urdu innings. Soon after their departure, however, the rest of the side crumbled without any considerable additions to the total, ending the day at 196. The target was relatively easy for SSPMS (D) having the entire fifty overs at their disposal. However, the batsmen failed to capitalise on the opportunity and even the a mammoth 61 runs gifted to them by way of extras did not help them attain the meager target.

It was a miserable batting performance put as only three of their batsmen managed to get into double figures. Middle order batsmen Rohit Tekel was the highest scorer with 17 runs to his individual tally. Their innings eventually ended at 120, seventy seven runs short of the target. Bowlers Shakti and Mehtab did most of the damage. They ended up with tight bowling figures. While Shakti was the most successful taking three wickets for just six runs, Mehtab too ended with impressive figures of two wickets giving away just four runs. Sagar Khare chipped in with two wickets.

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Mehtab’s match winning performance earned him the Man-of-the-Match award. Anglo Urdu will now take on JN Petit in the finals to be played on December 7.

Brief Scores
Anglo Urdu: 196 all out in 36.3 overs (Mehtab Khan 83, Shakti Bidlani 44; Tushar Baviskar 3/36, Swapnil Pokekker 3/39) won against SSPMS (D): 120 all out 36.1 overs (Rohit Tekel 17; Shakti Bidlani 3/6, Mehtab Khan 2/4, Sagar Khare 2/4) Result: Anglo Urdu won by 76 runs.