Aaryaraj Nikam’s hat-trick kicks off 48th Thanevaibhav Inter Office Cricket Tournament in style 

Aaryaraj Nikam’s six-wicket haul, including a hat-trick, started the 48th Thanevaibhav Inter Office Cricket Tournament with a bang. Nikam’s heroics powered Mumbai Police to a comprehensive 158-run win over Mahindra Logistics at Central Maidan on Tuesday.

Batting first, Mumbai Police posted a challenging score of 216 in 33.3 overs, riding on Rohit Pol’s (58; 40b, 8×4, 1×6) fluent half-century. They were bowled out inside the full quota of 35 overs as Partik Gupta wreaked havoc with the ball, picking up a fifer. The right-arm speedster opened the bowling for Mahindra Logistics and claimed 5/40 in seven overs.

In reply, Mahindra Logistics had a horrendous outing with the bat as they were bundled out for a paltry 58 in 12.5 overs. After 7.1 overs, they had scored 46 runs for the loss of three wickets. However, in the next 5.4 overs, the game completely turned on its head. Mahindra Logistics managed to add just another 12 runs, losing the rest of their seven wickets.

The 11th over of the innings that Nikam bowled was the turning point of the match. He scalped four wickets in four consecutive balls in that over, breaking the back of Mahindra Logistics’ batting. He finished off the game with panache, grabbing 6/2 in 1.5 overs.

Early in the day, Nikam (6; 7b, 1×4) opened the batting for Mumbai Police alongside Sunil Patil (25; 16b, 5×4). While he could not do much with the bat, he compensated handsomely with the ball later in the day.