Badal Rawat's 3/12 flips Mohali chase as Pondicherry beat Maharashtra by 15 runsबादल रावत के 12 रन पर 3 विकेट ने पलटा मोहाली का मैच, पुडुचेरी ने महाराष्ट्र को 15 रन से हराया

Pondicherry defended 204/9 in Mohali, beating Maharashtra by 15 runs in Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy Elite Match 10 at the IS Bindra Stadium. Maharashtra won the toss and chose to field, but a burst of three wickets for 25 runs in overs 11 to 14 swung the contest, and Badal Rawat's spell of 3/12 in four overs was at the heart of it.

Pondicherry's fast start and a late stumble

Pondicherry were 26/1 after three overs, then the innings took off. Overs four and five produced 43 runs, taking them to 69/1, and Bhanu Anand and Akash Pugazhanthi put on 67 from just 23 balls for the second wicket. Anand made 46 from 27 balls with five sixes, while Pugazhanthi smashed 42 from 14, with five fours and three sixes.

The score stood at 107/4 after ten overs and 157/4 after fifteen. Parameeshwaran S then struck 46 from 21 balls, with two fours and five sixes, and added 53 from 35 balls with Shashank Singh for the fifth wicket. Sagar Trivedi chipped in with 21 from 14.

The finish was untidy. Pondicherry were 199/6 going into the last over and lost three wickets for five runs: Trivedi was dismissed off Tanay Sanghavi, and Raghav Goyal and Adil Tunda were run out. They closed on 204/9. Mukesh Choudhary, Vicky Ostwal and Prashant Solanki took two wickets each for Maharashtra, and Sanghavi took one.

Maharashtra's strong platform, then the squeeze

Maharashtra seemed well placed at 61/1 after six overs and 106/1 after ten. Prithvi Shaw and Sahil Parakh added 71 from 40 balls for the second wicket, and Parakh hit 57 from 29 balls with seven fours and three sixes. Even so, they still needed 99 from 60 balls after ten overs, with a substantial part of the chase still ahead.

Rawat removed Arshin Kulkarni at 44/1, Parakh at 115/2 and Shaw at 128/3. Ramakrishna Ghosh was run out at 129/4, in the same over as Shaw's dismissal. Rawat bowled 24 legal balls across overs 5, 7, 12 and 14, conceding 12 runs without a four or a six against six batters. Maharashtra managed only 25 runs for three wickets in overs 11 to 14 and went from 115/1 after 11 overs to 131/4 after 14.

That left them needing 74 from 36 balls. Rahul Tripathi finished on 35 not out from 27 and Suraj Shinde on 16 not out from 13, adding an unbroken 38 from 25 balls, but the innings ended at 189/5. Kulkarni's 33 from 18 and Shaw's 32 from 25 also came in the chase.

The defining spell

Raghav Goyal took one wicket for 46 and Gourav Yadav conceded 35 without a wicket, but it was Rawat's economy and wickets that turned a strong start for Maharashtra into a stalled chase. His three scalps were the top-order batters on whom the pursuit depended, and Pondicherry's early hitting and the powerful middle-order cameos gave him a target he could defend.