Rockers enter IJPL semis
dubai — Dehradun Rockers outplayed MP Warriors in all departments of the game to become the first team to enter the semifinals of the path-breaking Indian Junior Players League Talent Hunt at the Dubai’s International Cricket Stadium today. A clinical performance by the Rockers in the first quarterfinal match of the inaugural edition helped them beat Warriors by 69 runs.
Earlier, MP Warriors chose to field after winning the toss but their game plan failed on two crucial occasions. First, when the Warriors had Dehradun Rockers subdued at 63 for three wickets in 12 overs but allowed the latter to come back and amass 88 runs in the remain- ing eight overs.
Prateek Panwar struck a brilliant 62 runs off 43 deliveries while Arko Jyoti Chattopadhyay scored a patient 37 runs off 38 deliveries to take the Rockers innings to 151 for eight in 20 overs.
Prakhar Prakesh Yadav (2/12), Kesat Chettri (1/26) and skipper Anmol Maheshram (1/38) were the successful bowlers for MP Warriors.
The second and the most crucial blow fell on MP Warriors when their run chase didn’t take off at all as almost all their leading batsmen choked under pressure. With the exception of lower-down batman, Harshdeep Chachal (28 runs off 17 deliveries), none of the other batsmen managed to reach the 20 runs-mark in this 150+ run chase. Their openers Sameer Khan (10 runs off 11 balls) and Mohd. Riaz (12 runs off 13 balls) were off to a decent start but failed to come up with a strong foundation.
The Warriors lost four of their top batsmen even before the power play overs were completed, further tottering at 53 for seven wickets in the 14th over and then the writing was clearly on the wall.
Dehradun Rockers’ Rohit Rana caused the maximum damage, with four wickets for just 10 runs. The other bowlers, Suraj Satwal (3/10) and Jatin Bhatia (2/16) had the other batsmen on tight lease as MP Warriors folded up for just 82 runs in 16.4 overs.