Manish Ambavane’s dominating 74 helps Welspun win the quarter-finals of the Milan T20 Tournament

It was the all-important quarter finals of the Milan T20 Tournament at Cross Maidan, Mumbai between Welspun & Nomura. Team Nomura won the toss & elected to bat first. The decision to bat first may have not affected welspun in a big way as they have a strong bowling line up to restrict any opposition.

Batting first, Nomura were not off to the best of the starts as opener Ajinkya was out for a duck. However the other opener Pratik did bring some hope scoring a 36 off 28 balls (5 fours,1six) but the rest of the batsman below him could not convert their good starts. Some late revival by no.5 & 6 down the order helped them save from getting bundled out for a low total as Jeet Gohil scored a fighting 39 off just 26 balls supported by Kawaldeep Singh’s 20ball 27. Right-arm off spinner Chinmay and Siddarth Pujara bowled well taking 2/28 & 2/23 respectively. It was a good bowling performance and the rest of the bowlers also did their job in containing the batsman. Eventually Nomura managed to score 137/9 in 20 overs which wasn’t the toughest of totals to chase especially in the quarter-finals.

However chasing 138, Nomura gave a really tough fight and almost compensated for their ‘okay’ batting by bowling nicely. Welspun won the match but it was not before a tough fight given by Nomura as Welspun won by just 2 wkts & 7 balls to spare. Right-handed opener Manish Ambavane played a masterclass knock of 74 at a time when batsman from the other end were continuously throwing away their wickets. Manish Scored a stunning 54 ball 74 which included 10 fours and a big six & remained almost till the end before he got out in the 18th over but he had already done his job before getting out as he helped his side to win the quarter-finals. If he wouldn’t have scored, the results could have been surely different. Pratik Ahluwalia & Ajinkya Patil were the pick of the bowlers with respective bowling figures of 3/24 & 2/19 followed by 2 wkts for Rohit in his one over.

It was a great match where both the teams gave their best & opener Manish Ambavane was adjudged ‘man of the match’ for his superb knock. Cricketgraph congratulates Manish & the whole team & wishes them to go on and win the tournament.