Raigad open account with ‘Royal’ win over 4S Puneri Bappa

Pune, June 6 2024: Raigad Royals outclassed 4S Puneri Bappa by 70 runs to open their account in Maharashtra Premier League (MPL) 2024 at the MCA International Stadium here Thursday.

Opener Siddhesh Veer (76*, 54b, 8x4s, 1×6) and No. 4 Mehul Patel (83, 33b, 6x4s, 7x6s) were architects of Raigad’s thumping win. Their assault in the final phase of the innings helped Raigad Royals put up 199 for 4 on the board. In response, 4S Puneri Bappa laboured to 129 for 8 with skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad (26, 28b, 2x4s, 3x6s), the top scorer.

It was Mehul Patel who stole the limelight. He came in to bat after Naushad Shaikh fell on the last ball of the 10th over. At the halfway mark, Raigad were 73 for 2.

Mehul hit Rohan Waghsare for a boundary and a maximum on the first two balls he faced to give a glimpse of what was to come. However, after 15 overs, Raigad were 115 for 2 with Veer on 55 off 46 and Patel on 25 off 15.

After that point, things escalated quickly. Mehul scored 14 (out of 15) off Piyush Salvi’s 16th over with a four and a six. 18 runs came off 17th with Veer scoring 11 this time.

The 18th over bowled by Salvi started with a wide. Patel went from 46 off 23 to 74 off 29 with three sixes and two fours. The over yielded 29 runs. The penultimate over fetched 18 runs with Mehul and Veer scoring 9 each.

It looked like Raigad Royals would cross the 200 mark but Ramkrishna Ghosh, bowling the 20th over, his first of the match, dismissed Patel to put late brakes and restrict Raigad Royals to only 199. However, it was too late already.

4S Puneri Bappa never looked like they had recovered from the onslaught of Patel. They got off to a slow start and were always behind the required run rate. Skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad walked in at No. 6 with a score reading 60 for 4 in the 10th over.

The Pune skipper probably already knew that scoring 140 off the remaining 62 balls would be impossible and decided to farm the strike. He denied taking singles as early as the 12th over. At one point Pune were 91 for 7 in the 15th over. Gaikwad’s misery ended when he miscued a shot to long off in the 18th over, the contest was killed by Mehul Patel long before that.

Brief scores: Raigad Royals: 199 for 4 in 20 overs (Mehul Patel 83, Siddhesh Veer 76*, Ramkrishna Ghosh 2-4) bt 4S Puneri Bappa: 129 for 8 in 20 (Ruturaj Gaikwad 36, Rohan Damle 24; Tanay Sanghavi 3-24) by 70 runs.