Riding on a destructive undefeated half century from Ketan Mhatre, Chennai Singams got their Indian Street Premier League (ISPL) Season 2 campaign back on track with a dominant one-sided 59-run victory over KVN Bangalore Strikers on Tuesday. Earlier in the day, Majhi Mumbai continued their impressive form with a six-wicket win against Falcon Risers Hyderabad for a second straight victory. In between the matches, rapper Emiway Bantai enthralled the crowd at the Dadoji Kondadev Stadium with his popular numbers.
Chasing a target of 66 runs, Mumbai needed only 7.3 overs to wrap up the issue, losing four wickets along the way.
Mumbai were off to a steady start with the openers Mohammed Nadeem and Rajat Mundhe putting together a partnership of 24 runs in the first two overs. However, the Falcons roared back into contention with some excellent display of pace bowling as Rajat Mundhe and Karan More were dismissed in consecutive overs.
Hyderabad pacer Parveen Kumar put the Mumbai batters under even more pressure by clinching the wickets of Mahendra Chandan and Mohammed Nadeem in the sixth over.
However, Amit Naik and Abhishek Kumar Dalhor pulled Mumbai out of trouble with their big hitting, scoring 14 runs between them in the 50-50 Challenge over. That all but sealed the issue in Mumbai's favour.
Nadeem was the top scorer for Mumbai with 25 runs off 18 deliveries while Parveen Kumar returned impressive figures of 2/3 for Hyderabad.
Earlier, Hyderabad ran into trouble right away, losing a flurry of wickets early. Opener Padmesh Mhatre lasted for only two deliveries before going for a bit hit off pacer Rajendra Singh only to see Vijay Pawle pull off an excellent catch at mid off.
Mansoor KL and Kisan Satpute - the other opener - also went back in the second and third overs respectively to leave the Falcons struggling at 8-3 after three overs.
Vishwajit Thakur and Aakash Jangid tried to stich together a partnership before the Mumbai bowlers again regained the upper hand with both departing in consecutive overs.
The rest of the Hyderabad batters also failed to leave their mark as the Mumbai bowlers continued to claim wickets at regular intervals. Shreyash Kadam was the only Hyderabad batter who managed to take the fight to the rival camp, smashing 31 runs off just 13 balls with 2 hits to the fence and three sixes studding his innings.
Abhishek Kumar Dalhor was the most successful bowler for Mumbai with figures of 3/25.
Chennai thrash Bangalore by 59 runs
Put into bat, Chennai Singams' batting prowess was highlighted by Ketan Mhatre's 30-ball unbeaten 53 after fellow opener Jagannath Sarkar got the side to a blistering start with a 20-ball 35. The duo had got the side to a blistering start, raising a half-century stand before being separated but Ketan continued his onslaught and went on to propel the Chennai side to a mammoth 125/4.
In response, Bangalore never looked in contention as they kept losing wickets in heaps right from the onset, and lost half their side for mere 29 runs on the board, before eventually being restricted to 66/9. Rahul Sawant, Anurag and Jignesh contributed with a couple of wickets each for the Men-in-Yellow.
Tiigers of Kolkata will play against Srinagar Ke Veer while Majhi Mumbai will face KVN Bangalore Strikers in the two matches tomorrow . All matches are LIVE on Star Sports 1 (TV) and Disney+ Hotstar (OTT)