Kerkar\'s 70 guides Namo Bandra Blasters to four wicket-win

Kerkar's 70 guides Namo Bandra Blasters to four wicket-win

Press Trust of India  |  Mumbai 

Opener Eknath Kerkar's blazing 70 guided Namo Blasters to a four wicket win over Supersonics in their game here Tuesday.

Kerkar's 51-ball knock, in which he struck nine fours and his twin partnerships of 64 with (31 off 26 balls) for the second wicket and 46 with (31 off 16 balls) for the fourth were enough for the Blasters to overhaul the target of 152 runs in the last over despite a late stutter.

However, had it not been for a superlative performance - both at the start and the death - by right-arm pacer Nikhil Date (3/27) and left-arm spinner Aditya Dhumal (2/28), the Blasters would have found it difficult to restrict Supersonics to a below-par total of 151 for eight.

Kerkar then starred in the chase.

With Iyer playing the big shots, Kerkar preferred to time the ball through gaps.

However, Kerkar threw his wicket away to seasoned pacer in the 18th over.

Prasad Pawar's cameo had virtually sealed the deal by then and despite Pawar and Dhumal falling to leggie Parag Khanapurkar in the next over, scored the winning runs off in the last over.

The victory gave the Blasters their second successive win and also ended up the Supersonics on the losing side for the first time in the tournament.

Brief scores:Supersonics 151/8 in 20 overs (Yogesh Takawale 32, Japjeet Randhawa 27, 27; Nikhil Date 3/29, Aditya Dhumal 2/28, Sujit Nayak 2/30) lost to NaMo Blasters 152/6 in 19.

2 overs (70, 31, Shreyas Iyer 31; 2/9, Khizer Dafedar 2/23).

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

First Published: Tue, May 21 2019. 19:41 IST