Pushkar & Ajish steer IndiaFirst Life Insurance into the finals of Jolly Friends T20 Tournament

IndiaFirst Life Insurance faced the uphill task of being pitted against one of the strongest teams in the Tournament – OSM, who have been steamrolling it’s opponents till this Semi-finals.

After winning the Toss, OSM chose to bat on what seemed to be a very flat wicket devoid of any grass at Dadar Union, Matunga Gymkhana. They got to a good start, with an opening partnership of 39 in the first 4 overs, before losing their first Wicket. Santosh Palve’s 55 (42 Balls; 3 4s & 3 6s) held up the middle order. But it was a blazing 66 off 30 Balls (5 fours & 5 sixes) from Amit Patil, before Dharmendra Gupta got his Wicket in the penultimate Over of the Innings, that provided the required impetus to the Innings, helping them post a good Total of 181/6 in the stipulated 20 Overs.

For IndiaFirst Life, Anand Kumbhar (4-0-24-2) and Pushkar Sharma (3-0-25-2) were the pick of the Bowlers. Swaminathan GK (2-0-16-0) was unlucky to concede 4 Overthrows in his otherwise tight spell of accurate Seam Bowling. Wicket-keeper Rupen Chaurasiya was brilliant behind the wickets with some great saves and a lightning Stumping off Kabir Ahmad who also bowled two good overs. Pushkar, in the last over of the innings, conceded just 4 Rruns taking 2 wickets to peg OSM back a little.

Chasing a fairly big Target, an aggressive 89 Run partnership off 7.1 overs between Pushkar Sharma and Kabir ahmad for the second Wicket laid a great foundation for their Team before the latter got out for an excellent 46 off 24 Balls that consisted 3 Fours and 3 Sixes. By the time Pushkar got out for a magnificent 65 off 38 Balls (8 fours & 2 sixes), IndiaFirst were almost cruising. Kunal Bambardekar played a sensible yet aggressive cameo, and remained unbeaten on 37 (23 Balls; 4 fours & 3 sixes) along with Babli Sharma (20 n.o. in 10 Balls; 3 fours & 1 six).

At the end, IndiaFirst Life Insurance amassed the challenging Total with utmost ease, with 7 Wickets in hand and almost 4 Overs to spare. Pushkar Sharma was adjudged the Man of the Match for his superb all-round performance.

Earlier, Skipper Ajish Abdul Rehman’s superb all-round display had helped his team top their league after beating JP Corporation in a thriller. After top-scoring with 26 in a low Total of 122, it was an excellent display of quick, fast bowling from the All-rounder. Giving away just 2 Runs off 18 Balls (14 of them beating the Batsmen completely) after a shaky start, Ajish finished with magnificent figures of 3-0-8-1 at 2.67 per Over, helping his team win the match from a seemingly improbable situation.

One more great spell of fast bowling from Ajish, along-with a hat-trick (3-0-19-4) from his deputy Ramana Meesala had helped them secure the semi-finals berth in another thriller in the Quarter-finals against VPS, where they defended a Target of 104 in 20 Overs.

It needs to be remembered that the magnificent 98 off 60 Balls against Tata International and a tight Bowling spell against Wrong UNS from Ajish were largely instrumental in this winning streak of IndiaFirst Life Insurance team.

After Ajish taking the team to the semis, it was Pushkar steering team to the finals. Ajish & Pushkar are also currently among the top Run Scorers in the Tournament, with Wasim Sayyed leading the Wickets Tables. Their Team is now slated to play the Finals at Fatima Ground, Ghatkopar next Sunday, 19 May, 2019.