Akhil Rajput scores a stroke-filled 98 while Santosh and Hemant impress with the ball in the ongoing Police Shield Tournament ‘17

Played at the Police Gymkhana in Marine Lines, Sind SC and Mumbai Police Gymkhana took on each other where in Mumbai Police won the toss and elected to bowl first expecting the pitch to have some due and support for the bowlers.

Sind SC batted really well as they scored 333 all out in 68.1 overs. The openers gave a good start and left-handed opener Akhil Rajput continued the good start as he went on to score a solid looking 98 off 128alls. It was a strokefilled knock where in he fell just 2runs short of what could have been a great ton. Akhil smashed 14fours and a six while also shared a good partnership with the experienced Puneet Tripathy who scored 57. Alpesh Ramjani who has been in excellent touch with the bat continued his good form as he scored a very graceful 81 off 138balls. Right arm medium pacer Santosh Shinde was the pick of the bowlers as he came up with excellent bowling figures of 7/75 in 20.1 overs. Santosh kept on bowling in the right areas and bowled at accurate line and length to trouble the batsman.  Santosh bowled like a lone warrior with the only support he got was from another pacer Vaibhav Singh who took 3wkts.

It was a really close encounter as Mumbai Police Gymkhana gave a strong fight to the opposition falling short by just 11runs. Opener Shahid Shaikh scored a well crafted 64 but it was their middle order bats Humayun Hirapure (57 off 69) and Shrikant Limbole(74 off 75) who almost brought their team back  into the game for a win. Santosh Shinde also gave a handy contribution down the order chipping in with a quick 42. Experienced left arm spinner Hemant Buchade once again proved his mettle with the ball as he took 6/79 in 23.2 overs. Hemant’s bowling spell was certainly spot on as it helped his team win the match. Sind SC won the match but it was a overall good team perfomance by both the sides and especially Akhil, Alpesh, Santosh and Hemant! Cricketgraph congratulates Sind SC while wishes luck to all the players for their upcoming matches.

CRICKETGRAPH