Double delight for DY Patil Group

MUMBAI: It was a day of double delight for Vijay Patil, president of the DY Patil Sports Academy on Wednesday. In the morning he read out the citation for conferring of doctor of science honorary doctorate degree on Sunil Gavaskar.
In the afternoon when he went to the BKC ground of Mumbai Cricket Association he saw his cricketers gain the vital lead over Bharat Petroleum, a top side of Ranji trophy players to realise a dream of entering the final of the The Times of India Cricket Shield A Division.
DY Patil Group got the lead of 69 with three wickets left over Bharat Petroleum on day two of the three-day semi-final.
Chasing 224, DY Patil Group, propelled by opener Swapnil Asnodkar (65) and Shoiab Shaikh's (91) 92-run second-wicket stand, reached 293 for seven.
Against a band of experienced bowlers, runs would always be difficult to get for DY Patil but bold strokes by Siddharth Chitnis who hit 25 off 18 balls inspired Shoaib Shaikh to play some smacking shots.
But suddenly Avishkar Salvi and Sairaj Bahutule put the brakes on, blocking his favourite cut shot with fielders. To his credit, Shaikh hung on even as three wickets tumbled.
At that stage a move to send Iqbal Abdulla up the order ahead of batters Abhishek Raut and Sarvesh Damle paid off. Abdulla (23) hit bold shots off Bahutule and Kotak and tickled the ball around and the lead was within reach at 212 for six at tea time.
Shaikh got it before leaving dissatisfied when declared caught behind off a missed sweep shot off Bahutule. Youngsters Damle and Raut, however, ensured there were no further hiccups with an unfinished stand of 55.
A proud Vijay Patil said, "It is in this longer version of the game that we have been aiming to make our mark and I am glad we are nearing fulfilment of that goal. We have been doing well in T20. All credit should go to Abey Kuruvilla for the way he has moulded the side."
Abey had asked Abdulla to be ready to go out if wickets fell.
The other semi-final is turning out an Ankit Chavan special. The left-arm spinner, who made his Mumbai debut this year, scored 108 adding 165 for the eighth wicket with Mandeep Mangela (63) and claimed three wickets as Air India scored 494 and tightened the screws against Western Railway B claiming their three major batsmen--Sanjay Bangar, Amit Pagnis and Abhishek Kaushik for 114 before the close.
All the work of Ankit who had bowled Bangar, which few bowlers can claim to do, had Pagnis caught at short leg and bowled Kaushik who had hit a hundred in an earlier game. Of a sudden Ankit has become a top order all-rounder.
Brief scores:
Air India: 494 (Rohan Kerkar 139, Hrishikesh Kanitkar 31, Prashant Naik 111, Ankit Chavan 108,Mandeep Mangela 63, Sanjay Bangar 4-86,Rahul Thakur 2-82,Shekhar Joshi 2-71) vs Western Rly B 114-3 (Amit Pagnis 33, Abhishek Kaushik 28, Ankit Chavan 3-25)
Bharat Petroleum: 224 vs DY Patil Group 293-7 (Swapnil Asnodkar 65, Shoaib Shaikh 91, Siddharth Chitnis 25, Iqbal Abdulla 23, Abhishek Raut batting 34, Sarvesh Damle batting 20, Sairaj Bahutule 3-93,Swapnil Hazare 2-62)