Maharashtra’s wicketkeeper-batsman Nikhil Nayak grabbed all the limelight with his unbeaten 95-run knock against Railways in Group A Super League match of the Syed Mushtaq Ali on Tuesday. His 58-ball stint at the crease helped his team piling up a challenging total of 177 which the opponents failed to chase.
Maharashtra cruised to the finals with a 21-run victory while Nayak’s ravishing batting turned out to be the show stopper. His five sixes to spinner Amit Mishra in an over made him the star of the day.
The onslaught by Naik happened in the final over that shifted the momentum in favour of Maharashtra. Mishra began the over with a full-toss and the batter muscled it over the backward square leg region. The next ball comfortably sailed over long off. The next one went in the same direction while Naik missed the fourth delivery. He then targeted the deep mid-wicket region and cleared the boundaries with utmost ease.
Frustrated by then, Mishra tried bowling the last ball wide outside the off-stump but Naik connected it well and hit for another maximum towards the deep extra cover.
Here’s the video:
The 24-year-old smashed a total of 8 maximums in his innings along with 4 fours. He has scored 193 runs in 11 matches at an average of 64.33 in the tournament so far and is set to play the finals against Karnataka on Thursday.
After the completion of the tournament, he will join the Kolkata Knight Riders for the upcoming season of the Indian Premier League (IPL).