Along the way, the match threw up key men in Dheeraj Jadhav and Praveen Kumar for Air India, and Abrar Kazi, Amit Verma, S Aravind and Rajshekar Shanbal for President’s XI.
Kazi got rid of Jadhav with a gem of a delivery. After pitching on a good length on middle stump, the ball curled just enough to beat Jadhav’s bat and clip the off-bail, leaving the left-hander bewildered. The celebration was understandably ecstatic. The hosts knew they had created an opportunity to come back into a match that was seemingly slipping away from them. The opener and skipper, who did the bulk of the scoring in a 65-run second-wicket association with Omkar Gaurav, looked to be taking the match away from President’s XI, who had made 204 after resuming at 199 for nine.
Chasing a none-too-intimidating target from 100 overs, Air India were off to a flying start with Jadhav looking in ominous touch. But his dismissal triggered his team’s collapse as Air India crashed to 186 in 66.1 overs to suffer an 18-run loss on the second and final day of the two-day match in the KSCA all-India invitation tournament at the NRA ground on Thursday. 
By lunch, the visitors had wiped off 70 runs for the loss of opener Sushant Marathe. If the pre-lunch session was bad for President’s XI, post-lunch, it was getting worse as Air India raced to 100 in quick time.
Stand-in skipper Devraj Patil, who entrusted the job of keeping the wickets to Shanbal after being hit on his leg, tried various combinations, but to no avail. With off-spinner Ryan Ninan proving ineffective, Devraj replaced him with Kazi, and it turned out to be a master stroke. The left-arm spinner provided the much-needed breakthrough dismissing Jadhav (63, 145b, 6x4) to set the cat among the pigeons. Devraj then brought in Amit Verma from the other end and the leg-spinner obliged him, removing Prashant Naik and Manish Pandey off successive balls.
Kazi struck again when an impetuous stroke by Gaurav was plucked at mid-on by CM Gautham. From a commanding 102 for one, Air India found themselves in a shambles at 111 for five.
President’s XI were sniffing victory now. They, however, had one more hurdle in Praveen Kumar (38, 38b, 3x4, 3x6). The tall medium-pacer used the long handle to good effect to come up with a cameo that threatened to dash President’s XI’s hopes. Unperturbed by his team’s shaky position, Praveen played without any inhibition to take Air India past the 150-run mark.
Left-arm seamer Aravind, largely ineffective in the first spell, bowled some probing deliveries in the second to keep the rival batsmen in check.
Praveen, however, couldn’t control his attacking instincts for too long, and was castled by a delivery that kept low and went under his drive.
Later the gangling bowler, accounted for Larson D’Costa. The left-handed batsman trying to clip a down the leg delivery could only manage a feather which was taken superbly by stumper Shanbal diving to his right. 
Mangela (16 n.o.) created some artificial excitement towards the end, but Kazi cleaned up last man Siddarth Trivedi to signal the celebrations.
Chemplast win
At the IAF ground, Chemplast scored a comprehensive seven-wicket win over Baroda Cricket Association. Having restricted Baroda to a modest 166 all out in 57 overs, Chemplast, resuming at their overnight score of 19 for one, reached 169 for three in 55.3 overs.  
Subramanian Siva was the top-scorer with an unbeaten 89 (169b, 10x4) while opener Hemant Kumar contributed 42(96b, 4x4).
Brief scores:
At NRA: KSCA President’s XI (O/n 199/9): 204 all out in 86.4 overs (Devraj Patil 68, Raju Bhatkal 63, Ryan Ninan 31 n.o.; Siddarth Trivedi 2-31, Moondeep Mangela 3-28, Pritham Gandhe 3-64) bt Air India: 186 all out in 66.1 overs (Dheeraj Jadhav 63, Praveen Kumar 38; S Aravind 2-34, Abrar Kazi 4-37, Amit Verma 2-33).
At IAF: Baroda Cricket Association: 166 all out in 57 overs lt to Chemplast (O/n 19/1): 169/3 in 55.3 overs (Hemant Kumar 42, Subramanian Siva 89 n.o.).