Rizvi have Mithibai on the ropes; Jhunjhunwala in final

Mithibai started their reply disastrously, losing two wickets in the three overs play remaining. Opener Kshitij Dave was bowled by Imran Baig for a duck, while southpaw Tanuj Chopra was caught leg before in the first ball of promising left-arm medium pacer Uday Karkera’s second over.

Earlier, Jhunjhunwala entered the final by scoring a 52-run win over NM Commerce. NM Commerce, 81 for seven overnight in reply to Jhunjhunwala’s 194, were all out for 142.

Yashasween Kenkre provided the sole resistance today, but once he was run out at the personal score of 39, NM’s inning folded up.

Pinch-hitter Bhaktiyar Palekar got Rizvi off to yet another flying start. The southpaw, who has scores of 92 and 68 in the two previous matches of this tournament, hit a whirlwind 62 (56 balls, 11×4, 1×6) and was second out with the team total at 80. That triggered off a mini collapse, and though skipper Amit Dhulap (25), a centurion in the previous match, and Imran Khan (28) made useful contributions, Rizvi were precariously placed at 163 for seven.

It was left to wicket-keeper batsman Aadesh Jain and left-arm spinner Ranjeet Bagwe to repair the innings. The two came together in the 44th over and stuck around till the 76th, the partnership realising 121. Mithibai were guilty of relaxing the grip, and it told on their fielding. A few run-out attempts went abegging, with throws going to the wrong end. Bagwe 64 (87, 10×4) and Jain 50 (101, 7×4) made merry of these lapses, till Jain was run-out with the score reading 284.

Brief Scores (semi-finals)

Jhujhunwala 194 (Chirag Shah 106, L Pratik 5-37) bt NM Commerce 142 in 41.1 overs (Yashasween Kenkre 39, Vikrant Manjrekar 37, Preetam Veer 3-25, Samson Chougale 2-44) by 52 runs;

Rizvi 288 in 78 overs (Bhaktiyar Palekar 62, Aadesh Jain 50, Ranjeet Bagwe 64, Imran Khan 28, Amit Dhulap 25, Rakesh Choudhary 3-59, Abhishek Athavale 2-41) vs Mithibai 1-2.