Ankeet Bawane served a strong reminder to Maharashtra selectors for a T20 recall by notching up the Maharashtra Premier League’s (MPL) maiden hundred to set up Kolhapur Tuskers’ perfect chase versus Ratnagiri Jets on Saturday night.
Riding on Bawane’s unbeaten 105 (60b, 11x4, 4x6), the Tuksers recovered from early hiccups and overhauled a stiff target of 178 with two balls to spare under lights at the Maharashtra Cricket Association stadium at Gahunje, Pune.
Bawane, who has been ignored by Maharashtra for T20 cricket for the last four seasons, anchored the chase to perfection despite losing his opening partner and captain Kedar Jadhav early. At 113 for five in the 15th over, Bawane was in danger of running out of partners.
But he found an able ally in allrounder Taranjeet Singh Dhillon whose 14-ball 21 brought the Tuskers’ chase back on track before Bawane finished the game off in style.
Later on Sunday afternoon, Prashant Solanki, having switched allegiance from Mumbai to Maharashtra recently, starred in Nashik Eagle Titans’ second consecutive victory. Solanki’s 3/12 was instrumental in the Titans bundling Solapur Royals for a paltry 79 after Dhanraj Shinde’s big hits had stretched the Titans to 161 for seven.
Brief scores:
Ratnagiri Jets 176/4 (Preetam Patil 69, Tushar Srivastav 32, Akshay Darekar 1/6) lost to Kolhapur Tuskers 181/6 in 19.4 overs (Ankeet Bawane 105 n.o., Pradeep Dadhe 3/31) by four wickets.
Eagle Nashik Titans 161/7 (Dhanraj Shinde 42 n.o., Siddhesh Veer 27, Kaushal Tambe 27, Sunil Yadav 2/20) bt Solapur Royals 79 in 16.3 overs (Rushabh Rathod 32, Prashant Solanki 3/12, Akshay Kalokhe 2/26) by 82 runs.
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