FLAME Univ sets up TCS summit clash

Pune: Gaurav Bhalerao came good with bat while Ritwik Parupalli turned his wrists well to steer their respective teams, TCS and FLAME University into the final of the FLAME University Corporate Cricket T20 League 2019 at the FLAME University Campus in Lavale on Sunday.

Parupalli’s five-for came in at the right time for FLAME University as he first toppled the top order, removed one in the middle and then removed the No 10 batsman to upset Infosys by five runs in a highly entertaining contest that saw pendulum fluctuate on either side.

Host FLAME University itself hadn’t done well after electing to bat against Infosys as they lost two wickets early on before the middle order spearheaded by Vinayak Renuse (20--16b, 1x4, 1x6), Arvind Rajpurohit (39--32b, 3x4) and Suraj Dange (21 not out--1x4, 1x6) gave some stability to their innings.

Infosys struggled early on as Parupalli struck in in each of this first three overs leaving the tech giant struggling at 30 for 3 in the sixth over before Gaurav Babel (25--34b, 1x4) came up with some sensible batting performance.

Parupalli, however was in a different zone as he sent packing Hrishikesh Matsye for naught and just when it looked Infosys was crawling up to the target, he removed well-set Jagannath Gaddime (19--11b, 2x4) to bring about five-run win for FLAME University.

Bhalerao shines
Middle order batsman Gaurav Bhalerao came in handy for TCS that effectively spoiled Himanshu Agarwal’s brilliant effort of 68-ball 83 for Siemens in the first semifinal match earlier in the day.
Put in to bat, Siemens rode on Agarwal’s knock and posted 145 for 7 in the allotted 20 overs, but TCS held sway thanks to opener Mayank Jasore’s 9-ball 14 and then Bhalerao going in to take control of the things in the middle as he scored 50 in 42 balls to set up the four-wicket win.

Brief scores:
SF1: Siemens v TCS
Toss: TCS, elected to field
Siemens 145 for 7 in 20 overs (Himanshu Agarwal 83 (68b (6x4, 2x6), Atul Pawar 17 (17b, (2x4), Soumya Mohanty 14 (12b, 1x4), Manoj Bhagwat 19 (16b, 2x4), Sunil Babar 2-27, Gaurav Bhalerao 2-34) lost to TCS 149 for 6 in 19.1 overs (Mayank Jasore 14 (9b, 1x4, 1x6), Gaurav Bhalerao 50 (42b, 5x4), Gaurav Singh 31 (23b, 4x4), Aditya 18 (15b, 1x6), Shubham Jha 2-37, Naman Sharma 2-26).
Result: TCS won by 4 wickets.
Player of Match: Gaurav Bhalerao (TCS)
SF2: FLAME University v Infosys
Toss: FLAME University, elected to bat
FLAME 122 all out in 20 overs (Vinayak Renuse 20 (16b, 1x4, 1x6), Arvind Rajpurohit 39 (32b, 3x4), Suraj Dange 21* (1x4, 1x6), Ravi Thapliyal 2-12, Jagannath Gaddime 2-32) beat Infosys 117 for 9 in 20 overs (Gaurav Babel 25 (34b, 1x4), Bhaskar Srivastava 17* (18b), Jagannath Gaddime 19 (11b, 2x4), Atharva Srivastava 2-24, Ritwik Parupalli 5-26, Nishad Kothari 2-21).
Result: FLAME University won by 5 runs.
Player of Match: Ritwik Parupalli (FLAME University).