T20 Mumbai Day 3: Tare and Sarfaraz star for Strikers, SuperSonics' unbeaten run continues
While SoBo SuperSonics continued their unbeaten run in the tournament, Eagle Thane Strikers registered their first win of the competition as they defeated Aakash Tigers by six wickets on day 3 of the 2019 T20 Mumbai.
Former Mumbai skipper and Mumbai Indians star Aditya Tare led from the front and helped his team Eagle Thane Strikers break their duck in the second match of the day. Chasing a modest total of 137, Tigers' experienced bowlers Shams Mulani and Dhawal Kulkarni struck early to reduce the Strikers to 10/2 in the third over.
Tare then joined hands with another IPL star, Sarfaraz Khan, and took his team out of trouble. The duo put on 100 runs for the third wicket in just over 13 overs and bailed the Strikers out. But, before he could see his team home, Tare was run out for 57 and soon after, Sagar Mishra was run out for 7.
With 14 runs needed off seven balls, Alpesh Ramjani hit an unbeaten four ball 11 and finished things off, with Sarfaraz Khan remaining unbeaten on 57 off 49 balls.
Earlier in the match, Ankush Jaiswal's 3/19, along with two-wicket hauls from Kruthik Hanagavadi and Sagar Mishra, helped the Strikers restrict the Tigers to just 136/8 in 20 overs with some notable contributions from Aakarshit Gomel and Shams Mulani.
Brief scores: Aakash Tigers MWS 136/8 *Aakarshit Gomel 38, Shams Mulani 36*, Ankush Jaiswal 3/19, Kruthik Hanagavadi 2/17, Sagar Mishra 2/24) lost to Eagle Thane Strikers 140/4 in 19.1 overs (Sarfaraz Khan 57*, Aditya Tare 57) by six wickets.
In the first match of the day, SoBo SuperSonics registered a comprehensive four-wicket win over Triumphs Knights Mumbai North East to move to the top of the table.
Opting to bowl first, Dhrumil Matkar and Vaibhav Mali gave SuperSonics some early breakthroughs as they reduced the Knights to 54/4 in the tenth over.
Knights skipper Suryakumar Yadav, who scored a stroke-filled 90 off 56 balls in vain in the tournament's inaugural game against Aakash Tigers, tried to pull things back as he put together a 46-run stand for the fifth wicket with Karan More.
However, he became the first of Deepak Shetty's victims soon after. More continued his innings at the other end and with some help from discarded Mumbai all-rounder Aakash Parkar, he reached his half-century and helped his team cross the 140-run mark.
His 35-ball 55 was the lone bright spark for the Knights today. Deepak Shetty was the star for SuperSonics as he finished with figures of 3/18 in his three overs.
Chasing a modest total of 144, SuperSonics were off to a great start, thanks to skipper Jay Bista, who scored 24 off just 15 balls before getting out to Royston Dias.
Parag Khanapurkar and Hersh Tank tried to keep things on track before Prasad Patil dismissed them for 15 and 47 respectively.
Once Praikshit Valasangkar castled Mansingh Nigade for 17, the scorecard read 107/4 in 14.2 overs and the match started to tilt towards the Knights.
Adding to their misery, Royston Dias returned to send veteran Yogesh Takawale (7 off 11) and Rohan Raje (14 off 7) back to the pavilion. Adeeb Usmani and Vaibhav Mali somehow managed to help their team cross the line with just a ball to spare. As expected, pacer Deepak Shetty was adjudged the Player of the Match.
Brief scores: Triumphs Knights 143/8 in 20 overs (Karan More 55, Suryakumar Yadav 20, Deepak Shetty 3/18, Vaibhav Mali 2/28) lost to SoBo SuperSonics 166/6 in 19.5 overs (Hersh Tank 47, Jay Bista 24, Royston Dias 3/26, Prasad Patil 2/24) by four wickets.
Catch the T20 Mumbai action live on Star Sports 2/2HD/3 at 7:30 PM, and on Hotstar.