Having elected to bowl first, the Strikers were off to a dream start as pacer Kruthik Hanagavadi dismissed opener Karan Shah on the very first ball of the contest with a peach of a delivery. That, however, would be the only breakthrough that the Strikers would get in the powerplay, as opener Sumit Ghadigaonkar and all-rounder Parikshit Valasangkar, who was promoted up the order, smashed 52 through six overs to put their team in a strong position.
Right after the powerplay, spinner Sagar Mishra, bowling his third over, got rid of the dangerous Valasangkar and just eight deliveries later, spin did the trick yet against as Alpesh Ramjani dismissed Ghadigaonkar to curb the Knights’ momentum.
Captain Suryakumar Yadav and Karan More conjured up a 31-run partnership in 33 balls and with overs running out, the skipper decided to up the ante, but his lofted effort went straight into the hands of fielder Sachin Wagh and he had to walk back after scoring 22.
His partner Karan More managed to score a couple of boundaries in the subsequent over but he too had to walk back after being dismissed by Hanagavadi in the 17th over with the scoreboard reading 129-5. After a quiet 18th over, all-rounder Akash Parkar took the Strikers’ bowling attack by the scruff of their neck and smashed 25 off the nine balls that he faced in the final two overs to help his team finish with 162 on the board.
In reply, the Strikers got off to a slow start and lost their first wicket in the third over owing to a brilliant bit of fielding from Vinayak Bhoir, who’s direct caught non-striker Kaushik Chikhalikar short of his crease. The Knights’ bowling attack continued to starve the batsmen for runs and allowed just 39 runs in eight overs which crept the required rate to over 10 an over.
The scoreboard pressure finally got to Sagar Mishra, who tried to take on spinner Yash Dicholkar but ended up hitting his shot straight to the fielder in the deep and walked back after scoring 19. In-form Sarfaraz Khan hit a magnificent cut shot off Parkar to get his first boundary of the inning, but the all-rounder had the perfect reply as his slower delivery crept through the gate and crashed into the stumps as the Strikers were reduced to 45-3.
With the required run-rate above 12, captain Aditya Tare had no option but to accelerate the scoring and his slog sweep off Dicholkar’s bowler went straight into the hands of Puneet Tripathi, all but ending the Strikers’ hopes. Dicholkar got another wicket in his very next over but was smashed for 15 by Ramjani in his final one, however, he still finished his bowling spell with solid figures of 3-25.
Ramjani stayed defiant and continued to bat right up until the 19th over, where he was finally dismissed by Mohit Avasthi for 40 with his team’s score reading 107-8. The final seven deliveries of the inning yielded 17 runs, but it was too little too late as the Strikers succumbed to their second defeat in three matches.
Brief Score
Triumph Knights Mumbai North East (Parikshit Valasangkar 39, Karan More 36, Kruthik Hanagavadi 2-41) beat Eagle Thane Strikers (Alpesh Ramjani 40, Sagar Mishra 19, Mohit Avasthi 3-16) by 38 runs.
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