Ajinkya Patil century knock powers Parsee Gym to victory

A swashbuckling century effort from Ajinkya Patil, who scored 106 runs, powered defending champions Parsee Gymkhana to a comprehensive 170-run victory against Marwari CC in a first round match of the 69th Nawab Salar Jung Open Invitation T20 Cricket Tournament, which is being organised by the Islam Gymkhana under the auspices of the Mumbai Cricket Association and played at the Parsee Gymkhana ground on Sunday. Marwari CC won the toss and elected to field.

The number four batsman Ajinkya was aggressive from the start and smashed 13 boundaries and three huge sixes during his 58-ball innings as Parsee Gymkhana went on to amass a challenging total of 245 for the loss of five wickets from their quota of 20 overs. Opener Aakarshit Gomel played a good supporting role scoring 94 runs from 46 balls with 15 hits to the fence and two hits over the ropes. Abdul Rehman (3/38) was Marwari CC’s most successful bowler.

Chasing a huge target of scoring 246 for victory, the Marwari batsmen were unable to rise to the challenge as they lost wickets at regular intervals and were bowled out for a paltry 75 runs. Azeem Shaikh was only batsman to score 33 runs. Left arm spinners Prasad Patil (4/8) and Shams Mulani (2/10) and medium pacer Abu Patel (3/15) were key Parsee Gym bowlers to torment the Marwari batsmen.

In another match, Young Mohammedan CC defeated hosts Islam Gymkhana by 23 runs. Batting first Young Mohammedan scored 186 for 9 wickets in 20 overs. Kadir Patel to-scored with 84 runs and Sandesh Koli added 26 runs to the total. For Islam Gym the main bowlers to get wickets were Tabish Ansari (2/29) and Umesh Vishwakarma (2/34). In reply Islam Gymkhana were restricted to 163 for 6 wickets from their 20 overs. Aziz Syed (35 runs), Musheer Khan (38 not out) and Aryan Banger (38 runs) got some runs on the board but they still fell short of their target and lost by 23 runs.