T20 Mumbai League: Shams Mulani, Arjun Tendulkar help Aakash Tigers MWS skittle North Mumbai Panthers

Riding on Shams Mulani’s unbeaten 50 and Arjun Tendulkar’s fine all-round show, Aakash Tigers MWS registered a six-wicket victory against North Mumbai Panthers which is their second win of the season in four games. Panthers, on the other hand, lost their second game of the season but are still sitting above Tigers in the points table due to a better run-rate.

Chasing 170, the Tigers were in all sorts of trouble after an early collapse. Arjun and Aakarshit Gomel gave the Tigers a flying start by adding 45 runs inside four overs. However, Gomel’s departure triggered a mini-collapse as Tigers lost their 4 wickets for 42 runs to find themselves reeling at 87 for 4. Rahul Sawant dismissed Gomel to give Panthers the much-needed breakthrough. The Tigers then lost Nehal Katakdhond and Arjun inside 12 runs to find themselves in a spot of bother.

D Subramanian and Mulani then stopped the rot for a while before Rahul Sawant accounted for the former to put Panthers on the top again. However, Mulani and Suryansh Shedge did not let the Panthers take anymore wickets as they shared an unbeaten stand of 84 runs to take their side home. Mulani scored 60 while Shedge scored 27. For the Panthers, Sawant was the pick of the bowler with 2 wickets for 22 runs from 4 overs.

Earlier in the game, Vikrant Auti continued his red-hot form and scored another fifty to guide Panthers to a competitive total of 169 for 6. With skipper Prithvi Shaw not playing the game, Auti led the side from the very front and top-scored for his side with 52. Auti and Vishal Dhagaonkar gave the Panthers a solid start by adding 94 runs for the first wicket in just 51 balls before the latter fell to Shams Mulani for 46.

13 runs later, Auti departed too before Sairaj Patil and Karan Nande steadied the ship with a 35-run stand. The Panthers, however, could not finish strongly. With the scoreboard reading 133 for 2 at the end of the 15th over, the Panthers must have been eyeing a score close to 180. However, the Tigers did extremely well in the final five overs and conceded just 36 to restrict the Panthers to 169.

Brief scores: North Mumbai Panthers 169/6 (Vikrant Auti 52, Vishal Dhagaonkar 46; Arjun Tendulkar 3/27) lost to Aakash Tigers MWS 171/4 (Shams Mulani 60; Rahul Sawant 2/22).

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