Published: Feb 22, 2019, 05:40 PM (IST)
Edited: Feb 22, 2019, 05:40 PM (IST)
After the high of winning their first match against Hyderabad in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2019 Group E match yesterday, Puducherry fell short in their Round 2 match against Maharashtra at the Palam A Stadium, New Delhi on Friday.
Maharashtra, who had claimed four points against Uttar Pradesh in their opening match rode on left-arm pacer Divyang Himganekar’s 4/19 and Ruturaj Gaikwad’s 55 not out to claim an eight-wicket win.
Opting to bat first, Puducherry lost both their openers – S Karthik (8) and skipper Damodaren Rohit (4) – to Himganekar and Samad Fallah,respectively inside the powerplay overs. Thalaivan Sargunam and Paras Dogra then added 57 runs for the third wicket before Sargunam was scalped by Satyajeet Bachhav for 29. One run later, Dogra departed for 32 to Himganekar.
Himganekar added two more to his tally with the wickets of Fabid Ahmed (15) and Parandaman Thamaraikannan (0) as Puducherry stuttered to 101/6 in their 20 overs.
In reply, Pankaj Singh got rid of Maharashtra opener Yash Nahar for a four-ball duck, followed by the wicket of Vijay Zol for 3, again taken by Pankaj in the third over. But, Gaikwad and skipper Naushad Shaikh added an unbeaten 99 runs to lead their team home.
Gaikwad’s third T20 fifty was studded with five fours and a six while Shaikh scored 44 off 37 balls with the help of three fours.
Brief Scores: Maharashtra 105/2 (Ruturaj Gaikwad 55*; Pankaj Singh 2/18) beat Puducherry 101/6 (Paras Dogra 32; Divyang Himganekar 4/19) by eight wickets.
