Spin duo of Sagar & Farhan helps Fort Vijay win the Quarter-finals while Shashikant Kadam gives his best for CCI
It was one of the better quarter-final matches of the Comrade Shield Tournament at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai. Fort Vijay Club who have a good batting line-up elected to bat first & make a big score on the board to put the opposition under pressure.
Batting first reaped good dividends for Fort Vijay as they managed to score a decent target of 297 for CCI to chase. CCI got all out for 296/10 in 69.2 overs and left-handed Divyansh Saxena was the leading scorer with a gutsy 75. Divyansh looked confident for his stay at the crease & was looking poised to score a century. Right-handed Rahul Lad & lefty Pankaj Jaiswal also made crucial contributions of 67 & 58 which played an equally crucial role for their team to reach a total of 296. Shashikant Kadam looked positive in his bowling spell & came up with bowling figures of 3/56. Other bowlers bowled well around him but it was kadam who looked confident in troubling the batsman to some extent.
Chasing 297 is never that easy & especially when it is a high pressure quarter-finals. CCI did appear to succumb to that pressure and good bowling of Fort Vijay bowlers until Shashikant Kadam arrived. CCI were at one point struggling at 140/8 before Shashikant came in & almost tried to change the script of the game in his team’s favor. From 140/8, CCI reached 276 falling short of just 20 runs. Thanks to one of the finest tons of the tournament by Shashikant where he smashed a blazing 112 which also included 10 big sixes to enthrall his team & the spectators alike. Nikhil Patil also scored a valiant 53 but it was just not enough at the end of the day as Fort Vijay won the match by 20 runs. The spin duo of Farhan Kazi & Sagar Udeshi destroyed the opposition in tandem and took 8 wkts together. Particularly left arm-spinner Sagar Udeshi did an amazing job taking 5/129 followed by 3/51 by Farhan Kazi.
All in all it was a great quarter-finals encounter where both the teams gave their best to win but eventually Fort Vijay won the match & qualified for the semi-finals of the tournament. Cricketgraph congratulates the whole CCI team for their fabulous performance & also appreciates the all-round efforts of Shashikant Kadam where he almost took his team to one of the most memorable chases of the tournament.