Khanolkar8217;s defiance in vain

MUMBAI, OCT 18: Shreyas Khanolkar's defiance in defeat stood out at the Police Gymkhana ground this afternoon. The young batsman from Mah...

MUMBAI, OCT 18: Shreyas Khanolkar8217;s defiance in defeat stood out at the Police Gymkhana ground this afternoon. The young batsman from Maharashtra braved the pace battery of the Tatas Sports Club while crafting a masterly 79 152b, 11215;4 which saw Western Railway sidestep and innings defeat and settle for a nine-wicket loss instead in the Group A encounter of the Times Shield A Division Cricket Tournament.

Trailing by 239 runs, Western Railway were in a mess at 71-5 when Khanolkar walked in to stem the rot. His grit against a pace attack of Subroto Banerjee, Ajit Agarkar, Sriram Kannan and Sandeep Dahad rubbed on to his partners too as he put on 60 runs for the sixth wicket with Patwardhan 48: 6215;4, 70 for the seventh in the company of Bhimesh Shah 27, 33 for the eighth with Pallav Vora 17 and 29 for the ninth with Irfan Pathan 13 n.o..

Tatas rattled off the required 26 runs in just 2.3 overs, losing Bengal opener Nikhil Haldipur 13. Tatas wicket-keeper Abhijit Shetye too had something to cheer about 8212; a match-haul of ten victims.

Sun-Grace Mafatlal8217;s diminutive left-arm spinner Rajesh Pawar once again proved to be a thorn in the flesh for the RCF, scalping another four to take his match haul to eight, as the hosts crashed to a nine wicket loss in a Group B8217; match at the RCF ground in Chembur.

With 151 runs in arrears, RCF failed to make the most the 77-run opening stand between Suhas Mayekar 41 and Sachin Kakdekar 27, and were bowled out for 193, setting Sun-Grace a mere 43 runs for victory. Pawar took 4 for 85 while medium-pacer Robin Morris returned with 3 for 34.

Prolific Mumbai Ranji Trophy middle-order batsman Amol Muzumdar, slammed a fine unbeaten century for defending champions Elf Lubricants in the drawn encounter against Air-India at the Elf-Vengsarkar Academy, Oval.

Youngster Sushant Manjrekar, promoted to open the innings, struck an aggressive, run-a-ball 79 while skipper Jatin Paranjpe returned unbeaten on 51 as Elf piled on 250 for the loss of just two wickets in their second essay. The host8217;s had earlier taken the first innings lead after Air India were dismissed for 222 in reply to Elf8217;s first innings score of 342.

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PATEL SIDELINED: Indian Oil Corporation, 220 for 8 overnight, expectedly conceded the first innings lead to Central Railway in a Group B match at the MIG Cricket Club ground. Replying to Central Railway8217;s first innings of 351, IOC were bowled out for 224. IOC however made a fine comeback, dismissing Central Railway for 217 in the second innings despite the absence of medium-pacer Manish Patel who once again fell victim to his recurring knee injury. Patel8217;s early recovery and participation in the next few matches of IOC looks doubtful.

Brief Scores

Group A: Western Railway 132 Nikhil Patwardhan 52; Ajit Agarkar 1-22, Sriram Kannan 3-43, Subroto Bannerjee 2-14, Sandeep Dahad 2-26 amp; 264 Nikhil Patwardhan 48, Shreyas Khanolkar 79, Bhimesh Shah 27; Ajit Agarkar 2-64, Sriram Kannan 2-37, Sandeep Dahad 3-39 lost to Tata Sports Club 371-9 decl Manoj Joglekar 23, Nitish Shetty 64, Lalchand Rajput 44, Ajit Agarkar 48, Nishit Shetty 64, Kiran Powar 95, Sandeep Dahad 63, Irfan Pathan 4-99 amp; 28-1 by 9 wickets. Points: Tata 8, Western Railway 0.

Elf Lubricants 342-8 decl Amol Rane 26, Maroof Khan 35, Amol Muzumdar 36, Mazhar Ghadially 52 n.o., Bhupinder Singh 2-44, Pritam Gandhe 5-91 amp; 250-2 Sushant Manjrekar 79, Jatin Paranjpe 51 n.o., 51, Amol Muzumdar 100 n.o. drew with Air-India 222 Kamal Chopra 57, Sanjay Manjrekar 37, Faisal Shaikh 21, Harvinder Singh Sodhi 42; Abey Kuruvilla 3-52, Nilesh Kulkarni 3-68, Sairaj Bahutule 3-44. Points: Elf 5, Air-India 3.

Group B: RCF Sports Club 118 Kaushik Aphale 66; Rajesh Pawar 4-40 Robin Morris 2-17, Omkar Salvi 2-22 amp; 193 Suhas Mayekar 41, Sachin Kakdekar 27, Vivek Deshmukh 33; Rajesh Pawar 4-85, Robin Morris 3-34 drew with Sun-Grace Mafatlal 269 Praful Dhule 98, Nitin Sawant 4-68, Vivek Naravne 3-47, Vivek Deshmukh 2-23 amp; 43-1 Nayan Mongia 32 n.o. by 9 wickets. Points: Sun-Grace 8, RCF 0.

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Central Railway 351 Sarvesh Bhatnagar 141, Dinesh Panwar 36, Amit Dani 3-62, Manish Patel 2-78, Iqbal Siddiqui 2-78, Hemant Kinikar 2-24 amp; 217 Manish Bangera 48, Ramesh Powar 50; Iqbal Siddique 2-43, Amit Dani 4-51, Abbas Ali 2-49 drew with Indian Oil 224 Abbas Ali 48, Mayur Kadrekar 34, Mandar Phadke 31, Iqbal Siddiqui 38, Rajesh Gurav 28, Dinesh Panwar 3-82, Prashant Nair 2-33, Jay Dhuri 2-44 amp; 42-0. Points: C Rly 5, IOC 3.