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PDCA cricket: Fine knock by opening pair takes Vikhe Patil to knockout stage
Vikhe Patil has entered the knockout stage after finishing their innings with 186 runs and restricting their opponents to 115 runs after 20 overs.
Riding on an outstanding opening partnership of 144 runs by Prithviraj Chavan and Omkar Khandve, Vikhe Patil Memorial School cruised to a 71-run victory over Vibgyor High School NIBM in their final group E fixture of the U-14 Kohinoor Pune District Cricket Association (PDCA) tournament at the Fergusson college ground on Saturday.
Vikhe Patil has entered the knockout stage after finishing their innings with 186 runs and restricting their opponents to 115 runs after 20 overs.
Vikhe Patil won their opening fixture against Sadhana Vidyalaya, but lost the second game against Symbiosis High School ‘B’, turning their encounter with Vibgyor into a crucial affair. However, the pressure did not get to the players, especially the openers Chavan and Khandve who stayed at the crease till the 17th over. After winning the toss, Vikhe Patil elected to bat and the decision reaped the desired reward.
A superb inning from Khandve saw him score 76 runs off 49 deliveries, while Chavan scored 75 off 56. Of the 16 boundaries smashed during both innings, the duo was responsible for 13. At the end of the second over, Vikhe Patil’s run-rate was 4.5. From the third over, the run-rate shot up and stayed above 9 till the end of the match.
Just as the Vikhe Patil players were thinking that they would finish their innings without dropping a single wicket, Khandve misjudged the delivery he was facing for the first time in the match and was punished by Vibgyor pacer Ved Karamchandani, who managed to get his ball past Khandve’s bat and on to the stumps in the 17th over. In the following over, Chavan was dismissed in an astonishingly similar way. Spinner Laksh Ranglani caught Chavan on the wrong foot as the batsman tried to sweep the ball towards the leg-side, but failed to judge the bounce as was clean bowled. Both the players received standing ovation from teammates after reaching the applauding pavilion.
In the final over, Ranglani helped his side get two more wickets. Ayush Kanade, who came in at number four, opted to take a quick single as the ball rolled back towards Ranglani and the bowler managed to get to the stumps before Kanade to clinch the third wicket as the batsmen trotted back after making just one run. On the third ball of the same over, Aryan Chordiya was dismissed on the first ball he faced after Ranglani knocked the bells off the stumps.
After hitting a half-century earlier, Khandve was the first to bowl in the second innings. A poor start saw Khandve bowl two wides and give away 7 runs in the first 3 deliveries. However, the youngster struck back, with a change of pace that uprooted the leg-stump behind Vibgyor opener Dhruv Kiyawat, to claim their first wicket. In his second over of the match, Khandve clinched another wicket as he sent the other opener, Shubh Vats, back to the pavilion in a similar fashion.
Vibgyor were unable to capitalise on opportunities that were presented to them. In the 9th over, Ayush Kanade bowled 6 wide balls, but Vibgyor could only take 9 runs from the over. In the 12th over, Vibgyor escaped a scare when Aryaman Singh lofted the ball towards extra cover and Veer Ujjanwal failed to wrap his hands around it. Singh’s one and only lifeline lapsed after that incident as he was eventually dismissed in the 14th over by Kanade, who did not rely on any fielder and just kept his ball on the stumps this time as Singh walked back after making 17 runs off 46 balls as the run rate fell way below the required one.
Khandve successfully played a part in everything during the match as he also managed to take a comfortable catch at mid-off to dismiss Aryan Khanderia off Shreyash Ningud’s delivery in the 15th over. Vibgyor did not lose another wicket till the final ball of the match, but with the target seemingly out of sight, they played the game out very slowly. With dampened hopes, Krishna Farnandes scored 14 runs off 15 deliveries while Ved Karamchandani, who lost his wicket in a silly run out on the last ball, scored 43 runs off 48 balls to help his side cross the 100-run mark.
QUOTES:
“We bounced back well after the loss in the previous game. Scoring a half-century is not easy, but with Om [Omkar Khandve] at the other end, playing with the same intensity, it was easy and helpful for me. This is my highest score so far in the tournament and I was able to do it because of my partner at the crease.”
Prithviraj Chavan, HT Player of the Match, Vikhe Patil Memorial School
“Our fielding was extremely weak in the previous match and there was a marked improvement in that today. However, we still need to work on that aspect. During our batting stint, the coordination between Prithvi [Prithviraj Chavan] was on another level. He played very sensibly and neither of us hit any risky shots.”
Omkar Khandve, Man of the Match, Vikhe Patil Memorial School
