Captain Shreyas Iyer, thriving on the generosity of the Goan fielders who floored three chances, scored a brilliant century (130 n.o., 57b, 11x4,10x6) to guide Mumbai to a 26-run win over Goa in the first round match of Group E of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy T20 cricket championship at Gymkhana Ground here on Saturday.
Put into bat, Mumbai was off to a dismal start losing opener Angkrish Raghuvanshi (6), who hit one straight to mid-off off pacer Tari in the second over of the innings before Shreyas joined Shaw to put up a 57-run stand for the second wicket at a brisk pace.
Shaw (33, 22b, 5x4, 1x6), who looked in fine touch straight driving to the fence and whipping one over mid-wicket fence off pacer Heramb Parab, was later bowled by left-arm spinner Darshan Misal in the sixth over.
From then, it was Shreyas’ show - scoring boundaries at will on either side of the wicket with ease against both spin and pace. The India star put on a show with his ability to hit huge sixes off what looked like good length balls, leaving the Goan camp stunned.
Not surprisingly, Shreyas completed his century and in the company of Shams Mulani (41, 24b, 4x4, 2x6) put on 114 for the fourth wicket off 48 balls which helped Mumbai score 250 for four in 20 overs.
In reply, Goa suffered early blows but recovered well thanks to opener Ishaan Gadekar (40, 16b, 4x4, 3x6) and Suyash Prabhudessai (52, 36b, 9x4) to keep hopes alive but lost wickets at regular intervals to fall back in what was a difficult chase on a batter-friendly wicket prepared by curator Sunil Chauhan.
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Though No.7 Vikas Singh played a cameo (47 n.o., 21b, 4x4, 3x6), he was only delaying the inevitable as Mumbai eventually wrapped up the result restricting Goa to 224 for eight.
In another Group E match here, Maharashtra recorded a six-wicket win over Nagaland thanks to fine knocks by Arshin Kulkarni (62 retd out, 39b, 8x4, 2x6) and Ankit Bawne (73 n.o., 42b, 10x4,2x6).
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