A spirited bowling display by Avinash Yadav (4 for 14) followed by a brilliant unbeaten half-century struck by Raviraj Patil (65) enabled Mumbai Champs to register a six-wicket win over Ahmedabad Rockets in the Edelweiss 20s Challenge being played at Tau Devi Lal Stadium here on Tuesday.
Yadav led Champs fightback after Rockets’ openers Wavell Hinds and Sachin Dholpure combined well in a fine opening stand of 61 runs. Rockets slumped from 61 for no loss to 131 for nine in 20 overs after Avinash Yadav took four wickets for 14 runs. This is the Champs’ maiden victory in the tournament thus far.
Ahmedabad Rockets openers Wavell Hinds and Sachin Dholpure got off to a blazing start after skipper Damien Martyn elected to bat. Both the openers played Champs' opening bowlers JJ Van Der Wath and Tino Best at their own will as they freed their arms easily in the initial overs.
Hinds started the onslaught as he slammed Van Der Wath for two consecutive fours in the first over of the Rockets' innings and then whacked Tino Best for two consecutive boundaries in the next over.
Dholpure too got into his groove as he smashed two boundaries in the fifth over bowled by Van Der Wath taking the Rockets score to 31 for no loss in five overs.
The duo completed the 50-run partnership in 49 balls buts soon Michael Kasprowicz trapped Dholpure in front of the wicket on 26 in the tenth over. Khirid provided the second blow to Rockets as he sent back Murray Goodwin (6) on a dubious lbw decision by umpire Brandon.
Skipper Damien Martyn joined Hinds in the middle but soon Hinds departed, as he was castled by Yadav after scoring a quick-fire 30 runs off 33 balls.
S Sriram then played a nice little cameo of 19 runs off just 9 balls that included three hits to the boundary before being run out on a fine throw by Jayantha. Yadav struck a crucial blow to Rockets as he picked up another important wicket of Damien Martyn (8) in the same over.
Martyn gave a simple catch to Jayantha at midwicket with Rockets' scorecard reading 97 for 5 in 14 overs. Nathan Astle snapped up Heath Streak on the first ball of the 15th over trapping Streak plumb in front of the wicket to make it 97 for 6 for Rockets in 14.1 overs.
Reetinder Singh Sodhi and Jason Gillespie then carried the score to 114 before Sodhi (8) caught by Khirid at long on off the bowling of Yadav. Yadav picked his fourth wicket of the innings in the form of RB Patel (1) as he clean-bowled Patel in the same over.
PP Vora (5) was run out in the final over before Gillespie and S Kalia helped Rockets to reach 131 for 9 in the allotted 20 overs.
Chasing a target of 132 runs in 20 overs, Champs had a bad start as opener S Paul (1) gave a simple catch to wicket-keeper Vora off the bowling of Jason Gillespie in the third over.
Jayantha departed soon after contributing just 13 runs off 22 balls, as he was clean bowled by Patel in the sixth over. But RP Patil and Nathan Astle provided some resistance as they stitched a 41-run stand for the third wicket to set up the run chase for Champs.
Patil was in an attacking mode as he smashed three fours and three sixes during the 41-run stand before Astle was clean bowled by Reetinder Singh Sodhi in the 13th over with Champs needing 55 runs off 44 balls.
Patil continued his dominance over Rockets' bowlers as he raced to his 50 in 33 balls, sharing a 32-run stand with Kiran Powar in the process.
Jason Gillespie cleaned up Powar in the 17th over with Champs still needing 23 runs off 22 balls. Patil and Khanolkar then took the score to 122 before Champs needed ten runs off the last over.
Khanolkar struck two magnificent boundaries off the first two balls as Champs romped home with two balls remaining.
Brief Scores: Ahmedabad Rockets 131 for nine in 20 overs (Wavell Hinds 30, Sachin Dholpure 29, Avinash Yadav 4 for 14) lost to Mumbai Champs 135 for four in 19.4 overs (Raviraj Patil 65 n.o., Gillespie 2 for 27).
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