After young skipper Prithvi Shaw put up a batting show in North Mumbai Panthers' encounter against NaMo Bandra Blasters on Friday evening in the T20 Mumbai League, the Panthers won by 27 runs. Shaw starred with the bat, scoring a quickfire 50 and then showed great captaincy chops on the field, picking up four crucial catches to ensures his team made it two out of two for the second season.
Prithvi Shaw and Vikrant Auti made the NaMo Bandra Blasters regret their decision of bowling first by smashing 39 runs off the first four overs. The 19-year-old caused most of the carnage, playing some exquisite shots including a lofted cover drive for six that rolled back the years at the Wankhede Stadium.
The duo added 20 more runs in the next two to completely consolidate their position in the game after the powerplay overs. In the seventh over, Shaw nudged one to long on to bring up his first fifty of T20 Mumbai Season 2. However, Sujit Nayak proved to the golden arm for NaMo Bandra Blasters as he dismissed the dangerous Shaw shortly after his half-century.
Seeing the track assisting the spinners, captain Shreyas Iyer bought himself into the attack and picked up a wicket of just his second delivery with his loopy leg spinners, dismissing Karan Nande cheaply. The wickets though did not deter the Panthers, who kept scoring at nearly 10 an over with Auti beginning to up the ante.
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Nayak was brought back into the attack and he struck yet again, this time picking up Sairaj Patil thanks to a brilliant running catch by Prasad Pawar. New man Swapnil Salvi announced himself in style to the Panthers’ faithful with two huge sixes, one straight shot off Shreyas Iyer and another pull shot off youngster Saksham Jha.
A few overs later Auti cut one that beat the fielder at short third-man to bring up his fifty; but was immediately sent packing by Aditya Dhumal. The spinner dismissed the well-set Salvi as well soon after, to get Bandra Blasters right back into the game. The two quick wickets dampened the Panthers’ scoring rate a bit, and captain Iyer made the most of this by then taking a blinder of a caught and bowled to leave the score at 147/6 after 17 overs.
The Panthers’ tailenders though managed well to add 31 runs off the final three to set a daunting target of 176 for Shreyas Iyer and co.
In reply, the NaMo Bandra Blasters got off to a horrible start, losing keeper-batsman Eknath Kerkar in just the second over of the game. Matters got worse as they then lost captain Iyer just balls later to leave the score at 17/2 after three.
Atif Attarwala then bowled a peach of a bouncer to get rid of new man Prasad Pawar; and the very next over Sagar Chabbaria was sent packing as well to leave the Panthers reeling at 21/4 after five overs. There was another casualty in the powerplay as a leading edge off Nikhil Patil’s bat founding Shaw who took a good, low diving catch.
The flurry of early wickets really put the Blasters under the cosh, as they got only 44 after the first eight. Nayak though stepped up the gear in the following over, getting a six and a four. He scored another brilliant straight six, but ultimately the scoreboard pressure got to him as he miscued a shot to be caught at short fine in the 14th over.
The wicket all but ended the Blasters’ chase efforts, with the run rate creeping above 13 as the game edged the last five overs. Bowlers Siddharth Chitnis and Aditya Dhumal did well to take the game till the end, with the former doing especially well to finish at 50 not out.
Dhumal too played a neat cameo of 38 runs off just 21 balls, but it was too little, too late as the North Mumbai Panthers emerged victorious by 27 runs.
Brief Score:
North Mumbai Panthers (Prithvi Shaw 53, Vikrant Auti 51, Sujit Nayak 2-23) beat NaMo Bandra Blasters (Siddharth Chitnis 50*, Aditya Dhumal 38, Atif Attarwala 3-34)
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