Dr. DY Patil T20 Cup 2017- day 5, round-up: Rishabh Pant sizzles

Reliance 1 vs Canara Bank

Ever since it was announced that Rishabh Pant would be a part of India’s T20I side, the U-19 star has taken it upon himself to show the Indian selectors that they made the right call. After scoring a 14-ball 43 in the previous match, his 34-ball 84 helped Reliance 1 claim another victory.

After winning the toss and electing to field, Reliance 1 got off to the perfect start thanks to Nathu Singh as Canara Bank lost four wickets in the first five overs. Despite KB Pawan’s fighting fifty and Jagdish Suchith’s unbeaten 29, Canara Bank could never get going and could only manage 120/7 in their 20 overs. Nathu Singh picked up two wickets, Pawan Negi got one while BK Pathan was the pick of the bowlers with 3/22 in his four overs including a wicket maiden in the powerplay.

If there was any doubts about the demons in the pitch, Pant dispelled all that with a fantastic display of aggressive batting. After scoring just six runs in his first 10 balls, Pant went berserk thereafter. He scored five consecutive boundaries off KP Appanna’s first over and got to his fifty off 24 balls.

Pant eventually finished unbeaten on 84 from 34 balls with 9 fours and 6 sixes at a strike rate of 247 and helped Reliance 1 chase down the target of 121 in just 10.2 overs.

D.Y Patil (B) vs Western Railways

Shashank Singh’s 70 and Vinit Sinha’s four-wicket haul helped D.Y Patil (B) beat Western Railways by seven wickets with 5.3 overs to spare. After winning the toss and electing to bat, Western Railways didn’t get off to a great start and never quite recovered despite Samarth Vyas and Vinayak Bhoir’s best efforts.

Western Railways lost three wickets inside the powerplay and despite Bhoir’s 46, the damage was already done and they could only manage 141/9 in their 20 overs. Vinit finished with figures of 4/22 which was the best in the game.

In response, Kevin Almeda and Shashank Singh put on a century partnership for the opening wicket inside 10 overs before Almeda fell three shy of his fifty. Although Hardik Rathod picked up two wickets in three balls, it was too little too late as Sarfaraz Khan sealed the victory with a 4-ball 12.

BPCL vs Jain Irrigation

K.S Bharat’s 46-ball 83 helped BPCL post 166/6, which proved to be too much for Jain Irrigation, who were bowled out for 138 in 18.2 overs and ended up losing the match by 28 runs. Anant Tambvekar’s 4/20 was the pick of the bowling figures for Jain, who did well to restrict BPCL to 166/6.

If the target seemed modest, especially after an impressive batting display by K.S Bharat, four wickets lost inside the powerplay, including that of Faiz Fazal painted a different picture. Rishi Arothe continued his impressive form as he finished with figures of 4/14 as he ran through the heart of the Jain batting line-up to secure a comfortable victory.

TATA Sports Club vs RBI Sport’s club

RBI Sport’s club were made to regret their decision to field after Ian Dev Chouhan’s 49-ball 95 helped TATA Sports Club post a huge total, which proved to be too much for RBI to scale. On the back's Chouhan’s 95, TATA finished on 189/7 with Ali Murtaza emerging as the pick of the bowlers with 3/30.

In response, RBI lost both openers and tried to consolidate with the help of Chiranjivi GS and Dhruv Shaurya, but once both fell in the space of two overs, scaling the target went out of the question. In the end, RBI were bundled out for 151 and couldn't even complete their 20 overs as they lost by 38 runs.