T20 Mumbai, Semifinal 2: Jay Bista's century propels SoBo SuperSonics into the final
SoBo SuperSonics continued their dominant run in the ongoing T20 Mumbai as they made light work of Aakash Tigers MWS in the second semi-final to book a final date with North Mumbai Panthers.
The Group B table-toppers SuperSonics won the toss and opted to bat first and that's where the match started tilting in their favour. Skipper Jay Bista and fellow opener Hersh Tank took on the Tigers' bowlers and showed no respite, smashing the balls all over the park. Hersh reached his fifty off just 29 balls in the ninth over and a few balls later, Bista reached the milestone off 34 balls.
The duo stepped on the accelerator thereafter and scored some quick runs as they looked set to reach their individual centuries. They reserved special treatment for Aakarshit Gomel, scoring 21 runs off the 14th over and then 18 off the 17th over bowled by Arjun Tendulkar.
Bista scored the first century of the season, off just 53 balls, and his partner was on course for one before he was unfortunately run out for 93 off 51 balls in the 18th over. In the next over, Sylvester D'Souza dismissed Bista for 110 and a decent 20th over from skipper Dhawal Kulkarni restricted the SuperSonics to 217/4 in 20 overs.
Chasing 218 to win, Tigers lost Arjun Tendulkar and Bhavin Thakkar early on and were pushed onto the backfoot. Aakarshit Gomel and D Subramanian put on 63 runs in just over 6 overs as they tried to pull things back before being dismissed in quick succession.
While Dhawal Kulkarni hit some lusty blows in his unbeaten 68 off 37, wickets kept tumbling at the other end and the Tigers were restricted to just 191/9 in 20 overs, handing SuperSonics a 26-run win and a place in the final. Dhrumil Matkar was the pick of the bowlers as he ended with figures of 5/32 in his four overs.
Brief scores: SoBo SuperSonics 217/4 in 20 overs (Jay Bista 110, Hersh Tank 93) beat Aakash Tigers MWS 191/9 in 20 overs (Dhawal Kulkarni 68*, Aakarshit Gomel 43, Dhrumil Matkar 5/32) by 26 runs.
Catch the T20 Mumbai action live on Star Sports 2/2HD/3 at 7:30 PM, and on Hotstar.