DY Patil make second final of their T20 cup

MUMBAI: Twenty20 cricket in Indiabegan with the Dr DY Patil Twenty20 Cup six years ago. So it was only fittingthat the team from this stable made the final of the sixth edition of the Rs 109lakh prize money event on Thursday.DY Patil Sports Association madetheir second final ever when they kept Western Railway down to a mere 118 andwon by four wickets.Prashant Bhoir the pick of the bowlers for DYPSAwith three for 30. Umesh Yadav on loan from Air India, but not for the finalthat followed, Rayan Ninan and Siddharth Chitnis chipped in two wicketsapiece.D Y Patil surpassed the target after early hiccups withkeeper Yogesh Takawle hitting 52 and Farman Ahmed contributing 48. DY Patil, whowere reeling at 14 for 3, were rescued by the partnership of 56 runs betweenTakawle and Ahmed. Coach Abey Kuruvilla spotted Farman from Delhi through therecommendation of Sanjeev Sharma, his fellow junior Indiaselector.In was keen with DYPSA needing five off the last over andTakawale getting out, but Abhishek Raut was there to steady theboat.The other semi-final was a last ball affair. Needing 14 off thelast ONGC got 12 and lost by one run.Gagan Khoda batted with gutsinspite of an attack of cramps for his 55. He needed ten off the last two hit afour but couldn't get the six his drive landing short of theboundary.Siddharth Trivedi gave just 12 in the last while DhavalKulkarni gave five in the second last which turned the match Air India'sway.Batting first Air India could only manage 146 for 9 in their 20overs, Ajit Chandela (39) and Chandan Madan (38) doing the bulk of the scoring.Ashish Nehra took 3 for 14, while Vikramjeet Malik and Mithun Minhas grabbed acouple each to restrict the Airmen.Had ONGC won they may have hadSehwag and Gambhir for the final which had a Rs 5 lakh prize money.