ISPL T10 Day 9 Review: Majhi Mumbai, Tigers of Kolkata storm through finals with comfortable victories

Mumbai, March 14: Majhi Mumbai will take on Tiigers of Kolkata in the final of the inaugural Indian
Street Premier League - T10 tennis ball tournament after both the teams registered comfortable
victories over their respective opponents in the semi-finals at the Dadoji Kondadev stadium on
Thursday.

Majhi Mumbai rode on an all-round performance from Abhishek Dalhor to defeat Chennai Singams
by 58 runs while Tigers of Kolkata defeated Srinagar ke Veer by 5 wickets to reach the final.

Having topped the group stage, Majhi Mumbai played like champions in the first semi-final against Chennai Singams. Dalhor, the most expensive player of the inaugural edition of ISPL, vindicated Majhi Mumbai’s decision to loosen their purse strings during the auction by scoring 62 runs in 23 balls to help his team set up a massive target of 146 runs in the first semi-finals.

He then packed off the dangerous Ketan Mhatre in the second over and was well supported by other
bowlers as the Chennai outfit was bowled out for 87 runs. arlier, Majhi Mumbai had a cautious start and were 31/3 at the end of the give overs when Dalhor, who went on to score the highest individual score of the tournament with seven sixes and a niner, and Ajay Qureshi (33 of 17 balls) scored 31 runs of the Dilip Binjwa over to set the ball rolling.

They amassed 39 runs in the next over, which was also a 50-50 challenge over, as Majhi Mumbai scored 114 runs in the last five to virtually bat their opponents out of the match. Chennai Singams needed openers Mhatre and Sanjay Kanojjiya to give them a strong start but Mumbai bowlers kept chipping wickets at regular intervals and sealed the match for the team. Kanojjiya put up a lonely fight, scoring 60 runs of 23 balls. Devid Gogoi claimed four wickets for eight runs for Majhi Mumbai.

In the second semi-final, Tiigers of Kolkata were clinical in their approach after opting to bowl first as they restricted Srinagar ke Veer for just 76/8 in their stipulated overs. Raju Mukhiya (4/14) and Babbu Rana (3/9) claimed the bulk of wickets while Srinagar ke Veer skipper Omkar Desai top scoring for his team with 25 runs of 15 balls.

In response, Tiigers of Kolkata openers Prathamesh Pawar (16 of 16 balls) and Munna Shaikh (25 of 24 balls) laid the foundation of a successful chase with a 43-run partnership in 6.2 overs.