Chennai Singhams beat Tigers of Kolkata, Falcon Risers Hyderabad subdue Bangalore Strikers

Chennai Singams Vishwanath Jadhav enjoying the victory against the Tigers of Kolkata in ISPL

Khel Today Bureau 

Mumbai: Chennai Singhams stole victory from the jaws of defeat with a brilliant bowling performance under pressure while Falcon Risers Hyderabad registered a dominant victory over Bangalore Strikers on the second day of the Indian Street Premier League – T10 tennis ball cricket tournament at the Dadoji Kondadev stadium on Thursday.

Left-arm medium pacer R Thavith Kumar clinched four wickets and Vishwanath Jadhav kept his nerves at the depth as Chennai Singhams defeated Tigers of Kolkata by 8 runs in a thrilling clash that went to the wire.

Later, Hyderabad bowlers vindicated their skipper’s decision to bowl first after winning the toss to bowl out Bangalore Strikers for 66 runs and then chased down the target in just seven overs with seven wickets to spare.

Glimpse of Falcon Risers Hyderabad Vs Bangalore Strikers.

Also, the victory helped Hyderabad go on top of the points table with two points and a net run rate of 4.4.

After electing to bowl first, Falcon Risers Hyderabad got off to a solid start as their pace bowler Anurag Sarshar removed KVN Bangalore Strikers’ Mansoor KL (1) cheaply on just fourth delivery of the match as he edged it to wicket-keeper Varun Kumar while trying to hit a maximum. Moreover, in the very next over, Bangalore lost their second wicket in the form of their wicketkeeper-batter Ashiq Ali Shamsu (1), who was removed by Vicky Bhoir courtesy of a brilliant catch by A Sarshar at mid-off.

Riding high on confidence after two breakthroughs in powerplay, Hyderabad continued their wicket-taking spree as Vivek Mohanan, while bowling with a tape ball, castled Saroj Pramanik (1) with a stupendous inswing delivery, while in the next over, vice-captain Vishwajit Thakur removed Thomas Dias (11), who was looking in form and had smashed two boundaries before departing.

Vivek Mohanan of Falcon Risers Hyderabad was named ‘Man of the Match’ for his outstanding bowling performance,

With Bangalore reeling at 23/4 after four overs, the team’s captain Ankur Singh and all-rounder Rahul Baghel shifted their focus on building a partnership by playing carefully and without taking risks in order to avoid losing anymore wickets. However, the strategy didn’t work for KVN Bangalore Strikers as Ankur lost his wicket to Thakur after scoring just 10 runs, which included a maximum.

The seventh over, which was also a 50-50 over, saw Bhoir picking his second wicket of the match as Ajit Mohite (4) gave an easy catch to Jagat Sarkar off his delivery. Also, Bangalore only manage to score only seven runs in the 50-50 over, thus failing to accomplish the challenge of scoring minimum 16 runs in the over. Hence, they lost three challenge runs, which left them struggling at 40/6 after 7 overs.

The misery continued for KVN Bangalore Strikers in the death overs as they were bowled out for a meagre 66 runs in 9.5 overs. Meanwhile, for Falcon Risers Hyderabad, Prathamesh Thakre was pick of the bowlers as he bagged three wickets in only five deliveries while giving away just 3 runs.

Chaing a moderate target of 67-runs, Hyderabad were off to a cautious start as Bangalore opted to bowl their opening over with a tape ball. However, the second over of their innings witnessed Ankur Singh giving 10 extras, which included a no ball and six wides, hence helping Hyderabad to end the mandatory powerplay with 15 runs on scoreboard and all wickets intact.

But, all-rounder Prajjwal Somvanshi shifted momentum in Bangalore’s favour as he bowled a double-wicket maiden over, in which he removed Jagat Sarkar (15) and Varun Kumar (0) on successive deliveries.

The fall of two wickets put Hyderabad under pressure as they were 29/2 after 4 overs, but skipper Krishna Satpute, who smashed 27 runs off 17 balls which included a three sixes and a four, and Vishwajit Thakur, who scored unbeaten 20 off 13, helped Hyderabad not only to emerge successful in 50-50 over and earn nine challenge runs, but also win the match with seven wickets in hand and three balls to spare.

Notably, Vivek Mohanan of Falcon Risers Hyderabad was named ‘Man of the Match’ for his outstanding bowling performance, which saw him picking up a wicket while giving away just 4 runs in two overs.

The Indian Street Premier League – T10 is a pioneering Tennis Cricket League with a primary mission to discover, nurture, and elevate cricketers from grassroots levels. It endeavours to unite the finest local cricket talent in India, creating a comprehensive platform for players to showcase their skills.

In the day’s opening match, Tigers of Kolkata looked on course for victory as Fardeen Kazi scores 21 runs of the first over from Rajdeep Jadeja with 2 fours and 2 sixes while chasing a target of 122.

But Thavith bowled brilliant fourth over with the tape ball and then claimed three wickets in the 50-50 over to peg Kolkata back.

Despite the setback, Kolkata skipper Prathamesh Pawar (42 off 22 balls) kept his team in the hunt by scoring 29 runs in the seventh over.

However, Jadhav once again turned the match on its head by giving away just 9 runs in his two overs to kick off Chennai Singhams celebrations.

Earlier, opting to bat first after winning the tip-top toss, Chennai Singhams scored a formidable 121 for five thanks to cameos from middle order batsmen Sagar Ali (34 from 17 balls) and Bablu Patil (23 not out from 8 balls).

Singhams had looked good for a huge total when skipper Sumeet Dhekale and Ketan Mhatre gave them a solid start with 20 runs on the board in just 10 balls.

But Shivam Kamboj, who bowled both his overs with the tape ball, broke the partnership by sending back Mhatre. Bhavesh Pawar then gave away just 16 runs in his two overs to stem the flow of runs.

With Singhams failing to capitalise on the 50-50 over bowled by Raju Mukhiya, it was Patil who had to find a few big shots to take his team beyond the 120 run mark.And that proved enough in the final analysis.