Nahar’s ton helps Jain Irrigation conquer Navy; Rahane shines too

Ajinkya Rahane

Yash Nahar's blistering 127 off 56 along with Azim Kazi's 75 off 22 helped Jain Irrigation beat Indian Navy by 24 runs in a Group ‘D' match of the DY Patil T20 Cup at the DY Patil University Ground on Friday. With two wins from two matches, Jain Irrigation sit on top of the group.

Put into bat, Jain Irrigation posted a mammoth 264-6. Right-handed opener Nahar began his onslaught early, hammering a six and a four off the first two balls to set the tone of the innings. Left-hander Kazi came in with the score reading 131-2 in 10.4 overs and went on to add a staggering 111-run partnership off just 35 balls with Nahar. Arpit Guleria (3-44) and Nitin Tanwar (2-39) were the pick of the navy bowlers.

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In reply, Indian Navy battled hard before being bowled out for 240 in 19.3 overs. Middle-order knocks from Nakul Sharma (61 off 26), Mohit Kumar (47 off 19) and Irfan Ali (43 off 19) saw them closing in on the target before Nakul and Ali fell in the penultimate over Leg-spinner Prashant Solanki (4-27) and pacer Aryan Badhe (4-44) were the main wicket-takers for Jain Irrigation.

"Since I got out early in the last match, I decided to play aggressively to get runs. Kazi's innings helped us a lot too," Man-of-the-match Nahar told mid-day. In the other game, Ajinkya Rahane (47) and an unbeaten 52 by Rohan Raje helped Indian Oil beat Air India by two wickets. Batting first, Air India scored 187-8. In reply, Indian Oil chased the target with two balls to spare.