Ankola-Gavaskar pack a double punch

APRIL 27: Salil Ankola exhibited his batting skills in ample measure at the Shivaji Park Gymkhana this afternoon. He belted four sixers a...

APRIL 27: Salil Ankola exhibited his batting skills in ample measure at the Shivaji Park Gymkhana this afternoon. He belted four sixers and a boundary in his 12-ball knock of 37 which virtually sealed the Ramakant Desai Memorial Double-Wicket title in the Ankola-Rohan Gavaskar team’s favour.

Gavaskar was an able ally to Ankola as the duo raked up a nett score of 48 in the summit clash of four overs each. However, the fancied pair of Vinod Kambli and Mandar Phadke fell short of the target by two runs.

In fact, Ankola denied Kambli the luxury of a boundary on the last delivery which resulted in the left-hander having to content with just two runs.

Earlier, Ankola-Gavaskar made short-work of Shreyas Khanolkar and Amit Pagnis while Kambli-Phadke upstaged the might of Praveen Amre and Ojas Mehta respectively.

Amre-Mehta and Ankola-Gavaskar topped Group 1 to qualify for the semis while Pagnis-Khanolkar and Kambli-Phadke emerged the best from Group 2.

As many as eight pairs comprising players ofinternational experience competed in the tournament held in memory one of Mumbai’s cricketing heroes.

Amod, son of late Ramakant Desai was also one of the participants.

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Group 1: Praveen Amre-Ojas Mehta, Vinayak Samant-Amod Desai, Atul Ranade-Rajesh Pawar, Salil Ankola-Rohan Gavaskar
Group 2: Paras Mhambrey-Sairaj Bahutule, Amit Pagnis-Shreyas Khanolkar, Rajesh Sutar-Nilesh Kulkarni, Vinod Kambli-Mandar Phadke
Final: Rohan Gavaskar 15 (13b, 1×4) (out once) and Salil Ankola 37 (12b, 1×4, 4×6) 37. Total: 52. Nett Total: 48 bt Vinod Kambli 19 (13b, 1×4) and Mandar Phadke 27 (11b, 3×6). Nett Total: 46 by two runs.

Semi-finals: Shreyas Khanolkar 6 (10b) (out once) and Amit Pagnis 10 (8b, 1×4) (out once). Nett Total: 8 lost to Gavaskar 4 (10b) and Ankola 9 (6b, 1×4) (out once). Nett total: 9

Praveen Amre 17 (10b, 1×6) (out once) and Ojas Mehta 13 (10b, 1×6) (out once). Nett total: 22 lost to Kambli 17 (13b, 1×4) and Phadke 6 (5b). Nett total: 23