Hosts Reserve Bank of India bolstered by the swashbuckling century knock from opener Sumit Ghadigaonkar who smashed an unbeaten 51-ball 100 runs charged to a fluent nine-wicket win against Bombay Mercantile Bank in their Elite Division Group-B match of the 62nd Sir Benegal Rama Rau Bank Shield Cricket Tournament 2024, organised by Reserve Bank of India under the aegis of the Mumbai Cricket Association and played at the Western Railway ground, Mahalaxmi.
Choosing to bat first, Bombay Mercantile Bank riding on Shivam Ghosh’s batting performance which yielded 63 runs from 44 balls with seven hits to the ropes and a six managed to reach a total of 148 runs for eight wickets from 20 overs. Ghosh’s teammates Fardeen Shaikh and Akshay Shelar both chipped in with useful knocks of 22 runs each to lift their innings. Reserve Bank bowlers Dev Dey three for 20 and Chirag Parmar three for 28 were the successful bowlers.
Later, Reserve Bank of India enjoyed smooth sailing as Ghadigaonkar batted aggressively and smashed the Bombay Mercantile bowling attack to all corners of the park and ensured they crossed the finish line making 151 runs for the loss of just one wicket in 15.1 overs. Ghadigaonkar struck 16 boundaries and a solitary six during his rapid innings and along with Shubham Chhag who scored an unbeaten 33 runs took the team home with plenty to spare.
In a closely contested Group-C match, New India Assurance managed to record a narrow 16 runs win against Bank of Maharashtra and Bank of Baroda registered a convincing nine-wicket win against Bank of India in Group-A clash.
Brief scores _ Elite Division: Bombay Mercantile Co-op Bank 148 for 8 (Shivam Ghosh 63 (44-balls, 7x4,1x6), Fardeen Shaikh 22, Akshay Shelar 22; Dev Dey 3/20, Chirag Parmar 3/28) lost to Reserve Bank of India 151 for 1, 15.1 overs (Sumit Ghadigaonkar 100* (51-balls, 16x4,1x6), Shubham Chhag 33*; Nilesh Gupta 1/33). Result: Reserve Bank of India SC won by nine wickets.
Bank of India 52 all out, 14 overs (Harshal Waghmare 21; Krutik Hanagavadi 3/2, Mairaj Khan 3/19) lost to Bank of Baroda SC 54 for 1, 4.5 overs (Chetan Bist 35*, Varun Sood 18). Result: Bank of Baroda SC won by none wickets.
New India Assurance SC 125 for 8 20 overs (Manish Yadav 51, Anish Shetty 24; Rohen Shaikh 3/15, Santosh Jagtap 2/18) beat Bank of Maharashtra 109 all out, 18 overs (Omkar Patankar 31Ajinkya Deshmukh 19; Ihsaan Amin 3/23, Suraj Kurmi 3/32, Rohit Yadav 2/16). Result: New India Assurance won by 16 runs.
