T20 Mumbai League: Aditya Tare, Sarfaraz Khan propel Eagle Thane Strikers to easy victory against Aakash Tigers MWS

Eagle Thane Strikers thrashed Aakash Tigers MWS Innings by six wickets to register their first win of the T20 Mumbai League 2019 while condemning the latter to the first defeat of the season. After restricting the Tigers to a modest 136, Strikers chased down the total with six wickets in hand and five balls to spare.

Asked to bat first, Aakash Tigers could only manage to post a modest total of 136 for 8 in their allotted 20 overs. Only four players could manage to score in double-digits with Aakarshit Gomel’s 38 being the top-score. Kaustubh Pawar and Gomel started cautiously. But before they could shift gears, Aishwary Surve broke the 27-run stand by dismissing Pawar for 22. It, however, did not cause much of a problem for the Tigers as Gomel and Arjun Tendulkar steadied the ship.

The two took the score past the 50-run mark and were looking comfortable in the middle when Ankush Jaiswal castled Arjun against the run of play. The Tigers soon suffered an almighty collapse and found themselves 6 down just 92 from 74 for 1. Shams Mulani then scored an unbeaten 36 to strengthen their chase. For Eagle Thane Strikers, Jaiswal was the pick of the bowlers, taking 3/19 while Kruthik Hanagavadi and Sagar Mishra picked up two wickets each.

The Strikers, nonetheless, started their chase in a disastrous fashion, losing their opener Kaushik Chikhalikar for just 2. Another opener Sachin Wagh departed soon too as Strikers found themselves reeling at 10 for 2. But skipper Aditya Tare and Sarfaraz Khan did not let the Tigers capitalise on the early breakthroughs as they struck impressive fifties to all but put the game to the bed.

The two added exactly 100 runs for the third wicket before Tare was run out for 57. Sagar Mishra was run out cheaply too but Sarfaraz remained till the very end, scoring an unbeaten 57 to take the Strikers home alongside Alpesh Ramjani. With this win, the Strikers are now third in the points table with 1 win and 1 loss. On the other hand, Tigers, who started their season with a win, are fourth.

Brief scores

Aakash Tigers MWS 136/8 in 20 ovs (Gomel 38; Jaiswal 3/19) lost to Eagle Thane Strikers 140/4 in 19.1 ovs (Sarfaraz 57 n.o, Tare 57; Dhawal Kulkarni 1/22 ).

[interaction id=”5cdada3adf3c8d219f86cf35″]