T20 Mumbai League: Akhil Herwadkar on a roll

Arcs Andheri's Akhil Herwadkar smashes one for a boundary en route his 79 not out yesterday. Pic/Suresh Karkera

ARCS Andheri's Akhil Herwadkar proved once again that being cool can conquer any difficult situation. Yesterday, his second consecutive half-century helped the Andheri side beat Shivaji Park Lions by four wickets in their T20 Mumbai League encounter at Wankhede Stadium.

Openers Herwadkar (unbeaten 79 off 58 balls) and Sufiyan Shaikh (25 off 16) went about chasing their 160-run target on a positive note with 67 on the board before the end of the sixth over.

Left-hander Herwadkar was in an attacking mood as he got to his 50 in just 29 balls (8x4, 1x6). But he had to change gears as Andheri lost Shubham Ranjane (11), captain Kevin Almeida (6) and Gaurav Jathar (2) in the span of three overs. Herwadkar, who spent 107 minutes at the crease, planned the team's chase splendidly.

Perfect plan
"I had to plan because we lost a few wickets. I think I just read the situation correctly and played accordingly," Herwadkar said after the game. But when Andheri needed 32 in the last two overs, he switched to his aggressive mode, hitting a six and a four in 19th over bowled by pacer Shivam Malhotra. Azar Ansari, (17 not out off 5 balls) who hit a six and a four in the same over, played a good hand in his team collecting 23 vital runs in the penultimate over.

For Lions, pacer Shivam Dube claimed two wickets, but conceded 41 runs. Earlier, put into bat, Raunaq Sharma (51 not out off 30 balls), Swapnil Pradhan (44 off 33) and skipper Siddhesh Lad (23 off 20) helped Lions post 159 for six. Left-arm spinner Iqbal Abdulla claimed two for 16, while pacers Tushar Deshpande and Ansari picked a wicket apiece.

Vikrant, Prithvi thrive
In the day's second match, skipper Prithivi Shaw led from the front as North Mumbai Panthers beat NaMo Bandra Blasters by 27 runs. Batting first, openers Shaw (53 runs off 31 balls) and Vikrant Auti (51 off 41) gave their team the perfect start. Aditya Dhumal claimed 2-29 for Bandra. In reply, the top five Bandra batsmen, including skipper Shreyas Iyer (three), were all dismissed in single digits. Siddharth Chitnis top-scored for Bandra with 40-ball 50 not out but it wasn't enough as his team finished on 148-7, 27 runs short of the target.

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