The Desert Vipers Talent Pathway (DVTP) Under 18 team claimed its first ever victory on Monday evening with a convincing 62 run victory over the travelling Spartan Academy from India in a T20 fixture.
The Pathway, still in its infancy, elected to bat first after captain Punya Bhatia won the toss on Oval 3 at the prestigious Sevens Stadium. Skipper Bhatia opened the batting with the left-handed Yuv Kapoor and this new partnership took the score beyond the 50 mark before the latter lost his wicket for a classy 22.
This brought the very talented Liam Dsouza to the crease and together with his captain, got to grips with what was proving a slow and low wicket and one that restricted free flowing run scoring. However, the pair grew in confidence and gradually upped the tempo as the boundary was found with more regularity. Dsouza hit one impressive maximum straight down the ground on his way to an unbeaten 41 from 32 balls while Bhatia carried his bat, for what proved to be a match winning 59 not out from 56 deliveries.
Defending a competitive 134, opening bowlers Saesha Indoriya and Angad Nehru started impressively and the visiting team were restricted to just 21 in the powerplay. From that juncture, the home side continued to build pressure with some impressive control with the ball, backed up with some ever alert fielding but it wasn’t until the introduction of Rayaan Ahmed that the first wicket was taken. Indeed, Rayaan claimed two wickets in his first over and would finish with impressive figures of 4-7 from three overs.
Seam bowlers Adam Anwar (2-11) and Aarav Anand (1-4) were the other wicket-takers as Spartans finished its 20 overs on 72-8.
