A breezy knock of 39 off 29 balls by captain Mansing Nigade helped the Shivaneri Lions to a 23-run victory over Devagiri Emperors in the Maharahstra Premier league match played at the Deccan Gymkhana here on Thursday. The Shivaneri Lions were able to put up a total of 150 in their allotted 20 overs. Nigade's opening partner Rahul Tripathi also made a useful run-a-ball 26. Nigade fell to a mis-hit, falling to a slower one by Ketan Kasture, which was taken in the deep by Ninad Chaudhary.

Kaustubh Patil provided solidity to the middle order by scoring a 40 off 39 balls. Akshay Tandale took three wickets for the Devagiri team, while Ninad Chaudhary, Ketan Kasture and Rohit Jadhav took one each.The Devagiri Emperors, in their chase, lost wickets at regular intervals. They were off to a bad start when opener Solomon Chopade was sent back to the pavilion for a duck by Shivaneri paceman Sandeep Pawar. Chetan Suryanvanshi (29 off 19 balls) tried to provide some stability to the innings, but was unluckily run out to a brilliant piece of fielding by Rahul Tripathi. none of the Devagiri batsmen could stick around to make an impact. Towards the end, Ninad Chaudhary played a gutsy cameo, scoring 30 off 20 balls in what by then was a lost cause. J Katnoria took 3 wickets for the Shivaneri Lions, while Sanjay Pardeshi and S Sureshnath took 2 wickets each.

In another match played at the same venue in the morning, Sinhagad Supremos defeated Pratapgad warriors by 11 runs .

... contd.