T20 Mumbai League: North Mumbai Panthers start campaign with thrilling win over Eagle Thane Strikers

North Mumbai Panthers beat Eagle Thane Strikers by 6 runs to start their campaign in Mumbai T20 League on a winning note.

Eagle Thane Strikers started their chase of 191 on a poor note with Atif Attarwala sending back opener Sachin Wagh for just three. However, Kaushik Chikhalikar and skipper Aditya Tare did not let North Mumbai Panthers capitalise on the early start as they added 88 runs for the second wicket to keep their team in contention. Prathamesh Dake gave his team the much-needed breakthrough by sending back Chikhalikar for 56.

Sarfaraz Khan also departed cheaply before Tare took command of the proceedings and found good support from Sagar Mishra. The two added 54 runs from just 33 balls to keep their team’s hopes alive. But in the 19th over Attarwala dismissed both the batsmen to turn the game on its head. The Strikers needed 16 runs from the final over but Aishwarya Surve and Alpesh Ramjani managed just 9 runs from the over bowled by Mundeep Mangela.

North Mumbai piled mountain against Eagle Thane

Earlier in the match, North Mumbai Panthers piled up a mammoth 190 for 8 in the allotted 20 overs after being asked to bat first. Skipper Prithvi Shaw set the tone for the rest of the innings by dispatching Balwinder Sandhu for a couple of fours in the very first over. Shaw looked in great touch and hit two more boundaries before being run-out in the fourth over for 22. Vikrant Vilas Auti and Ajinkya Patil then steadied the ship, taking the Panthers to 50 for 1 at the end of the powerplay.

The Panthers were looking in a great position before they suffered a middle-order collapse, losing 3 wickets for just 15 runs to find themselves reeling at 83 for 4 from 68 for 1. Asif Shaikh broke the second-wicket stand when he accounted for Auti for 22. 10 runs later, Sarfaraz Khan sent back Patil too before Kruthik Hanagavad dismissed Shashikant Kadam for 1 to put Eagle Thane Strikers on top.

However, Sairaj Patil soon ended Strikers’ advantage by launching a stunning counterassault. Sairaj hammered 46 from just 18 balls to put Panthers on their way to a big total. His whirlwind knock contained 3 boundaries and 4 sixes. Karan Nande then took on from thereon and hammered an impressive 22-ball fifty to fire Panthers to a daunting total which eventually turned out to be a winning win.

Brief scores: North Mumbai Panthers: 190/8 ( Nande 50, Sairaj 46; Ankush Jaiswal 1/23) bt Eagle Thane Strikers 184/5 (Tare 71, Chikhalikar 56; Attarwala 3/37) by 6 runs.

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