Masters Warriors’ record victory at the Swaminarayan Pro Twenty

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Jadhav stars in Warriors record win at Pro Twenty
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Shubham Jadhav was relieved to see his form with the bat pay off after scoring a magnificent century in Play Masters Warriors’ record victory at the Swaminarayan Pro Twenty cricket tournament.

The Stray Lions’ opening batsman led from the front, scoring an unbeaten 100 against Purple Dot Ndovus.

The third ton of the tournament helped Warriors to successfully chase Ndovus’ 198 in just 18.3 overs to record a nine wickets win.

Jadhav, who has been in the form of his life in the NPCA Super League, blasted 100 from 53 balls that included 17 fours and one towering six to become the third centurion of the six-team event after Azaz Kotariya (117) and Irfan Karim (101).

“It’s really pleasing,” said Jadhav, who put on a tournament second highest wicket record partnership of 125 alongside Kevin O’Brien (61) after they had been at 91 for 1 in 9.2 overs.

“I have always wanted to score a century in a big stay and today’s century is the beginning of good things to come. ”

“I’m really pleased with how my batting has improved in the last couple of months and I am hoping I will be in the same form in the coming matches and ensure that we go all the way to the final,” Jadhav said.

After Ali Butt had scored an unbeaten 82 to lead his side to 198 for 3, Ndovu fans thought that was a comfortable score to defend but an opening stand of 93 between Jadhav and Manish Kerai (42) made them think otherwise.

The two found the boundaries with ease to give their side a comfortable start.

The dismissal of Kerai didn’t do much to change their misfortunes as Irish international O’Brien continued from where his side’s opening batsman had left with three sixes and six boundaries.

“The Warriors batsman batted well. They came with a clear mind of getting the total within the shortest time possible and that is what they did exactly,” said Ndovus skipper Rushab Patel.

“Kudos to them for such a good show. For my bowlers, I think we gave it our all best but things didn’t work out as planned. We will fight in the next two matches and see how it will go. All is not lost.”

In the second match of the night, Hari Om Titans survived a late scare from former national team seamer Nehemiah Odhiambo before beating Mombasa Cement Giants by two wickets.

Chasing 133, Giants were comfortable on top of the chase at 116 for 4 after 13 overs before Odhiambo engineered a major collapse that saw them struggle at 121 for 8.

Odhiambo picked four wickets in nine balls including danger-man Dwayne Smith (40) to put pressure on current leaders.

It took a spirited fight from Jignesh Hirani (6) and Narendra Kalyan (49) to Giants come out victorious.