Mumbai: Consistency has been the other name of Shashikant Kadam of Future Group, as he came up with yet another stellar display both with the ball and the willow anchoring his team into the final of the Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Cup. At the RCF Colony ground, Chembur here on Thursday, he was well supported by who also scored a polished half-century and picked up three wickets, as Future Group ran away with a 49-run win over Mafatlal Sports Club in the championship organised by Rashtriya Chemicals & Fertilizers Limited the X RCF T20 cricket tournament.
Future Group amassed a 186 for losing six wickets and later bundled out their rivals for 137 with five over to spare. The winners take on Tata Sports Club in the final. After skipper Akshay Darekar decided to bat first, Future Group suffered two early setbacks as opener Harsh Tank, without scoring and Sagar Sule (3 runs) were back in the pavilion and just nine runs on the scoreboard. But, a responsible batting display by Tank’s opening partner Ahmed and number 4 bat, Avadhoot Yadav 40 runs (29 balls, 7x4s) stitched together a 75-run partnership for the third wicket to put Future Group’s innings back on track.
Later, number 7 batsmen Kadam stole the thunder with his blistering unbeaten knock of 57 from just 21 balls and which was laced with 2 boundaries and 6 well-struck sixes. He along with Javed Khan added 66 runs for an unbroken seventh wicket to set Mafatlal a stiff target of 187 for victory. In reply, Mafatlal was unable to rise to the challenge and except for skipper Karan Nande who struck 58 runs (33b, 5×4, 3×6) waged a lone battle, but he did not receive any support from the other batsmen and finished on the losing side.
Brief scores: Future Group 186-6 (Shashikant Kadam 57* (21b, 2×4, 6×6), Salman Ahmed 50 (35b, 5×4, 2×6), Avadhoot Yadav 40 (29b, 7×4); Karan Nande 2-27, Puneet Tripathi 2-37) bt Mafatlal SC 137 (Karan Nande 58 (33b, 5×4, 3×6); Salman Ahmed 3-26, Shashikant Kadam 2-20) by 49 runs. MoM: Salman Ahmed (Future Group)
Central Bank win
Central Bank of India scored a hard-fought 1-0 win over HDFC Bank in an Elite Division match of the Rustomjee-MDFA League, at the Neville D’Souza ground, Bandra, here on Thursday. In another match, Kenkre FC got the better of Salcette FC by a close 2-1 margin.
Results: Elite Div: Central Bank of India: 1 (Yogesh Kadam) bt HDFC Bank 0; Kenkre FC: 2 (Ashraffali M., Lester Fernandes) bt Salcette FC: 1 (Sameer Sawant).
