Reliance 1 retain title after Tiwary fireworks

Mumbai Indians left-handed batsman Saurabh Tiwary scored a blazing hundred to set up the title win for Reliance 1 in the 14th DY Patil T20 Cup final on Thursday night at the DY Patil Stadium. Reliance 1 beat BPCL by 25 runs to succesfully defend their title.

The Reliance 1 skipper scored an unbeaten 112 in 63 balls laced with five boundaries and eight sixes after India’s T20I squad member Rishabh Pant fell for a duck. He aligned himself very well with Akshdeep Nath (23) and Nikhil Naik (19) to take his team to an imposing total. For BPCL,  Rishi Arothe's 2/34 were the best figures by any bowler.

Indian under 19 stars Kamlesh Nagarkoti (4/28) and Anukul Roy (3/29) led the bowling challenge by sharing seven wickets between them. Roy, the left-arm spinner, who has been picked by Mumbai Indians in the IPL-11 auction, broke the back of BPCL batting by scalping the wickets of well set batsmen Abhishek Nayar (43) and Shreyas Iyer (35). He also had the third Mumbai bastman Suryakumar Yadav quickly, to peg back the BPCL run chase after Nayar and Iyer were cruising through. Shivam Dubey tried his best but the left-hander was left with too many runs to chase in the end. Nagarkoti, who was bowling in 140’s was too good for the tail. BPCL ended at 160/9 thanks largely to Dubey's late charge of consisting of an unbeaten 40.

Tiwary, who made his name with Mumbai Indians in the first three seasons of the IPL, returned to the side last season and was picked again by the the Mahela Jayawardene coached side during the auction. He had a good Vijay Hazare tournament recently and was in prime form in the DY Patil T20 Cup also. Expectations were high from him in the semi-final on Thursday, after openers Rohan Marwaha 23 and Rishabh Pant 23 had set the platform. But the burly batsman holed out in the deep after playing himself in during the semi-final against DY Patil Sports Academy B team at the same venue, which resulted in mini collapse. But Nikhil Naik with an unbeaten 35 and Akshdeep Nath (31) steered them home to an easy five-wicket win to book a berth in the final.

Batting first DY Patil Sports ‘B'’ was restricted to a modest 136-6 in their 20 overs with wicket-keeper batsman Hardik Tamore top scoring with unbeaten 70, whereas Mohsin Khan also of Mumbai Indians, picked 4/14 for Reliance 1. In their response, Reliance 1 chased down the total with five wickets and 27 balls to spare.

Tiwary didn't repeat the mistake in the final and stayed put amidst the ruins. He stayed till the end despite losing partners in the final to take Reliance 1 to an imposing score of 185/6 after being put into bat first by BPCL.

"I tried to stay till the end. It was a good total for us. I haven't seen any team chasing that score in the final here. It was a team effort from the boys throughout the tournament," said Tiwary, who was adjudged player of match and tournament. He also walked away with best batsman (295 runs) and maximum sixes award (19) to cap of a successful tournament ahead of the IPL-11 starting next month.

The BPCL team consisting of predominantly Mumbai Cricket Association players had earlier defeated CAG in the second semi-final at University ground in a heavy scoring contest. Handy fifties by man-of-the-match Abhishek Nayar (67) and Rahul Tripathi (56) propelled BPCL to 211-6 in their 20 overs. In their response, CAG gave a good fight, but fell short by 17 runs. The half-centuries by Ankit Kaushik (74 n.o.) and Ankit Lamba (53) went in vain.