Triumph Knights Mumbai North East cruised over Shivaji Park Lions by three runs, as captain Suryakumar Yadav smashed a 90 not out. With this victory, the Triumph Knights have become champions of the inaugural edition of the T20 league.
Pursuing the target of 183 put up by the Triumph Knights, the Lions made sure they battled till the end but despite their efforts, they fell short on 179-8 after 20 overs. The partnership of 82 off 59 balls between Alpesh Ramjani (48 in 38 balls) and Hardik Tamore (39) almost brought victory for the Lions who were 57 for 3 in the powerplay.
The Lions did not have a good start as they lost their opener, Paul Valthaty on the fourth ball of the innings. But skipper Bravish Shetty did not lose his calm and played a knock of 32 in 17 balls. But he too got out in the fourth over with 43 on the scoreboard. However, Ramjani and Tamore put their skills to display and stitched a crucial partnership to make sure the Lions do not fall out of the competition. But with their wickets gone in the 17th over, Lions saw their hopes for victory disappearing.
In the 17th over, medium pacer Vaibhav Singh got both batsmen out which ended the innings for the dangerous-looking duo. Vaibhav Singh finished his spell with three wickets, conceding 38 runs. But it was Shivam Dubey, who brought his side really close to victory. The Lions needed 26 runs off the last over and Shivam Dubey went all guns out smashing three sixes and a four. Four runs were required off the last delivery when the bowler bowled a dot ball due to which Lions lost the title by three runs.
The southpaw Shivam Dubey, a Ranji debutant had played crucial innings in the semi-finals and also scored an unbeaten 33 off just 12 deliveries in the finals with four sixes and a four to his account. Shivam Dubey tried to win the match for his team but could not succeed in doing that. However, he won hearts instead, with his gallant knock.
The Lions lacked big names but they did not lack talent and had made their way to the finals after defeating Namo Bandra Blasters in the Eliminator and Sobo Supersonics in the second Qualifiers.
Earlier, Triumph Knights skipper Suryakumar Yadav had completely run through the Lions’ bowling attack. Yadav came to the crease when his team was struggling at 34-5 and took up the responsibility along with Parikshit Valsangkar, who scored a supportive knock of 59 off 49. Yadav (90) and Parikshit (59) remained not out till the end and ensured posting a decent total for the team.
Both batsmen put up a partnership of 148 in 84 balls, which is the highest of the tournament. Yadav along with Valsangkar put up 84 runs in the last five overs by hitting eight sixes and four boundaries.
The winners, Triumph Knights will take home the cash prize of ₹1 crore whereas the runner-ups will take ₹50 lakh with them.
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