MPL 2025, 2nd Match Review: Skipper Rushabh Rathod’s 80 powers Raigad Royals to 24-run win over Satara Warriors

Raigad Royals (RAR) secured victory by 24 runs against Satara Warriors (STW) in Match 2 of the Maharashtra Premier League (MPL 2025) at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Pune.

Opting to field first, Satara Warriors got off to a great start by dismissing Siddhesh Veer (zero off two) and Harsh Mogaveera (five off three) in consecutive overs. Rajvardhan Hangargekar picked up his second wicket in his second over to leave Raigad Royals three down. An 18-run over was what propelled Raigad to 65/4 at the end of the powerplay.

Raigad got to the halfway mark without losing any more wickets. Between the two batters in the middle, Rushabh Rathod assumed the role of the aggressor. Rugved More had scored only 15 off 16 balls.
Shubham Maid kept things tight in his first couple of overs. The left-arm orthodox conceded only 12 runs off them.

Overs 14 to 16 yielded 45 runs for Raigad. The 130-run fifth-wicket stand came to an end on the second delivery of the penultimate over when More was dismissed for 48 off 41. The skipper and wicketkeeper-batter’s splendid 80-run knock off 45 balls came to an end in the subsequent over. His side ended up posting 190/6 after 20 overs.

Porwal’s late charge in vain as Satara's middle order collapses

Coming to the run chase, Satara were off to a rather measured start. Not only did they score only 33 at the end of their first six overs, but they also lost a couple of wickets in the form of Pavan Shah (zero off one) and captain Saurabh Nawale (nine off 15). Pavan bagged a golden duck on the first ball of the innings. A total of four bowlers were used by Raigad within the powerplay.

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Satara were on the back foot at the end of 10 overs. They were able to score only 55, 30 of which were scored by Harshal Kate. He had faced as many deliveries to do so. On the other end, Om Bhosale was batting on 13 off 14 balls. Kate was dismissed for 38 off 34 on the final ball of the 12th over. Bhosale fell five short of his fifty, walking back for 45 off 29.

Hangargekar, who walked out to bat after Bhosale’s innings, could contribute only nine off 10. Aniket Porwal (31 off 14) tried his best to bring his side close to the target. However, it was not to be, as it was a case of too little, too late. The seven wickets of the opposition were shared by Sagar Jadhav (2/41 in four overs), Tanay Sanghvi (2/28 in four overs), and Nikhil Kadam (3/33 in four overs).