Nagpur, June 6 (IANS) Bharat Rangers beat NECO Master Blaster by 23 runs in the 2nd fixture of the Vidarbha Pro T20 League at the VCA Stadium, Jamtha, Nagpur. Shubham Kapse’s economical 3 for 21 won him the match of the match and Bharat Rangers their first points on the table.

Upon winning the toss, Neco Master Blaster put Bharat Rangers in to bat first. Captain Atharva Taide and Shree Choudhary opened the innings. Praful Hinge got the early breakthrough by taking Shree Choudhary’s wicket in the first over and then Neco Master Blaster got the important wicket of Atharva Taide as the batting team were down to 10-2 within the first two overs itself.

The middle order consisting of Danish Malewar, Neel Athaley, Updesh Rajput and Malhar Dosi got off to promising starts but all got out in their 20s breaking partnerships that could have resulted in a bigger score. Bharat Rangers put up 131 runs at the end of the innings.

NECO Master Blaster just could not stop losing wickets at a quick pace and quickly found themselves at 58/5 with the loss of Jitesh Sharma’s wicket. While he had a good day behind on the field taking 4 catches in the previous innings, he did not find his rhythm with the bat.

This seemed to the case with most batters as the bowlers of Bharat Rangers dismantled the line up in 18.6 overs with the NECO Master Blaster managing to put up just 108 runs. This reflected in the scores as Gaurav Dhoble scored 16 runs, the highest of the team in a run up of low scores.

Nachiket Bhute and Shubham Kapse shared the spoils of the wickets with 3 each but Shubham’s economy won him the man of the match award. Gaurav Farde and Malhar Dosi contributed with a wicket and 2 respectively.

The next match of the day will be played between Yash Rathod led Orange Tigers and Mandar Mahale’s Nagpur Heroz later in the evening at the VCA Stadium, Jamtha.

–IANS

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