Mumbai: Defending champions Ghatkopar escaped to victory over Thane Marathas by two wickets in a low scoring tie to open their campaign in the Mitsui Shoji T 20 League-Season-8, played at Oval Maidan here on Monday.
Opting to bat first, Thane Marathas found batting quite a hazardous proposition on a dry track and were dismissed for a paltry 114 in the last over. Yogesh Pawar top-scored with a gritty 32. All-rounder Sarvesh Damle made a sedate 25. The bowling honours were shared by Ajinkya Belose 3-18, Hemant Buchade 3-18 and Sagar Mishra 2-16).
However, the Marathas fought back hard and very nearly pulled off a win, but for the ninth wicket unbeaten partnership of 23 runs between Akhtar Shaikh and Pushkar Sharma, saw the defending champions achieve their target with two overs to spare.
Brief scores
Thane Marathas 114 all out in 19.4 overs (Y Pawar 32, S Damle 25, A Oberoi 22; A Belose 3-18, H Buchade 3-19, S Mishra 2-16) lost to Ghatkopar Jets 115-8 (A Belose 22, A Shaikh 21*; S Damle 4-22, V Patil 2-21) by 2 wkts.
Central Bank win
Central Bank of India struck prime form and charged to an authoritative 6-0 victory against Kenkre FC in an Elite Division Group-B play-off match of the Rustomjee-MDFA League, at the Neville D’Souza ground, Bandra here on Monday.
This was Central Bank’s third straight win and qualifies for the semi-finals. Air India with six points finished second and have also progressed to the semi-finals.
Results: Central Bank of India: 6 (B Picardo 2, Y Kadam 2, N Shetty, S Pose) bt Kenkre FC: 0.
