Hosts recover after set back

PUNE, Oct 28: Opener Rizwan Anwar was unlucky but middle-order batsman Vedant Patwardhan was fortunate as they anchored Maharashtra to a ...

PUNE, Oct 28: Opener Rizwan Anwar was unlucky but middle-order batsman Vedant Patwardhan was fortunate as they anchored Maharashtra to a reasonable 247 for 6 at the end of the first day, in the three day match of the under-19 West Zone Cooch-Behar cricket tournament against Gujarat at the Poona Club ground here today.

Rizwan who was very meticulous all through in his batting made one silly mistake when on 94, which cost him his century.

At stumps, Vedant and wicket-keeper Satyajit Satbhai remained not out on 57 and 16 respectively.

Gujarat skipper, Kevin Desai, had things going his way as the hosts batsmen lost their patience. He grabbed two wickets and was also instrumental in the fall of the other two, thus making it a truly memorable birthday for him.

The former captain of the West Zone under-16 team, Kevin, in his maiden appearance as skipper for Gujarat, went wicketless in his first spell 16-4-43-0 but came back to scalp two wickets in his second spell of nine overs, which included the prized wicket of Rizwan Anwar. His quick reflexes saw him run out Kapil Laghate in a direct hit. It was Kapil who had steadied the innings with Rizwan after the loss of three early wickets.

The wicket offered nothing to the Gujarat bowlers but the Maharashtra8217;s batsmen committed harakiri as the first three wickets fell slashing out at out-swingers.

Gujarat coach, Anil Patel, was delighted when they had three wickets in the first hour of play, but turned grim at the end of the day8217;s play. 8220;We should have had more wickets, but my bowlers were bowling too short,8221; he commented later.

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His counterpart Anwar Shaikh was quite content with the days proceedings. 8220;It has been a very good recovery, after the earlier setback. Rizwan was unlucky to have missed his century, but Vedant and Satbhai are doing their job8221;.

Scoreboard
Maharashtra: 1st Innings: Rizwan Anwar c Vipul Patel b Kevin Desai 94 204b, 236m, 11215;4, Dhiraj Jadhav c Kevin b Siddharth Trivedi 09 40b 49m 1215;4, Vivek Deshmukh c Pallav Vora b Siddharth Trivedi 01 4b, 7m, Pankaj Phalke c Kevin Desai b Vipul Patel 26 30b, 47m 3215;4, 1215;6, Kapil Lagate run out Kevin Desai 32 98b, 82m 5215;4, Vedant Patwardhan not out 57 114b, 157m, 10215;4, Rohan Dharwat b Kevin Desai 0, Satyajit Satbhai not out 16 91b, 3215;4, 116m.
Extras: b2, lb1, nb5, w4 12.
Total: for 6 wickets 247.
Fall of wickets: 1-23, 2-25, 3-65, 4-148, 5-172, 6-173.
Bowling: Vipul Patel 20-6-45-1, Siddharth Trivedi 15-6-25-2, Kevin Desai 32-8-80-2, Anket patel 20-2-71-0, Vivek Gandhi 7-0-23-0.