Shams Maulani and Co. pull up a great show to defeat Nandgaon Lions in the finals of the Palghar Premier League

By CricketGraph Editor Last updated Jun 21, 2017

It was the all-important finals of the Palghar District Premier League where two powerful teams comprising of big names clashed with each other at the P.D.T.S.A. Ground Boisar . On a good batting track where a good total can be made, Azad Strikers elected to bat first and put Nandgaon boys under pressure.

Batting first, Azad Strikers were off to a mixed start with their opener Kaustub Pawar smashing a quikfire 35 off 22 while Swapnil & Karan More on the other hand lost their wickets quickly. However, the middle order boys did the job as left-handed Shams Maulani & Sumit Meher stitched a crucial partnership. Shams Maulani scored a solid yet aggressive 40 off just 31balls smashing 5fours while Sumit on the other hand chipped in with a 28ball 33 followed by a quick 12ball 21 by Shashikant Kadam pushing their team total to 164/7 in 20 overs which is a very competitive total to defend. Musavir Khote was the pick of the bowlers taking 3/36 in his 4 overs followed by 2/13 & 2/17 in 4overs each by Brijesh & Siddarth who proved to be quite economical.

Chasing 165 in a finals of a T20 is always a task full of pressure, however Nandgaon Lions almost nailed it as they managed to reach as close as 162/8 in 20 overs giving a very tough fight to the Azad Striker boys & this is how the finals should be. Opener Arjun Tendulkar gave a decent start with his 23ball 26 but they lost quick wickets in between. Virat Singh & Sujit Nayak infused some life back into the chase as they scored 28(23) & 33(21) respectively. Musvair Khote at no.8 scored a valiant 37* off just 21balls almost taking his team to the victory line. Tushar Gharat was the pick of the bowlers taking 2/30 in his 4 overs followed by a wicket each for Shams, Kastub, Shashikant & Aqueeb making it a collective team perfomance.

Azad Strikers won the finals of the Palghar Premier League by 2runs & Shams Maulani was declared ‘man of the match’ for his all-round contribution while Musavir’s perfomance was also appreciation worthy though it went for a losing cause. On the other hand Sairaj Patil was declared ‘man of the series’ for his 194 runs(2 fifties) & 6wkts in the tournament.

Cricketgraph congratulates both the teams for putting up such a brave fight & also wishes all the players to continue playing this good brand of cricket in the coming future too. Special mention must also go to Bipin Patil who successfully organized the Palghar Premier League where we got to see such amazing individual performances & exciting matches!