T20 Mumbai League: Tigers mauls Knights, Supersonics thumps Arcs Andheri

Despite Yadav continuing his silken touch from the IPL, Aakash Tigers MWS - one of the two new entrants to the league this year - dominated the match for most of the 40 overs to surprise the defending champion outfit at the Wankhede Stadium.

Arjun Tendulkar marked his maiden T20 Mumbai appearance with vital contributions with the bat and the ball.

Suryakumar Yadav repeated his heroics of last year’s final and held the Triumph Knights Mumbai North East innings together. However, if his 42-ball 90 had ended up in the Triumph winning the inaugural edition of the T20 Mumbai, his 56-ball unbeaten 90 (4x4, 7x6) wasn’t enough to start his team’s title defence on a winning note.

Despite Suryakumar continuing his form from the IPL, Aakash Tigers MWS, one of the two new entrants to the league this year, dominated the match for most of the 40 overs to surprise the defending champion at the Wankhede Stadium on Tuesday.

Solid start

Dhawal Kulkarni managed the Tigers well after being asked to field first, restricting Knights to 147 for six. Once Aakarshit Gomel (41, 29b, 4x4, 3x6) and Kaustubh Pawar (34, 30b, 5x4) gave the Tigers a flying start, the other batsmen built on the 67-run opening partnership and saw the team home without much of a scare.

READ: How good a cricketer is Arjun Tendulkar?

Arjun Tendulkar marked his maiden T20 Mumbai appearance with vital contributions with bat and ball. The left-arm pacer bowled three decent overs in the PowerPlay, picking up his maiden wicket when lefthander Karan Shah holed out to deep square-leg in the fourth over. Arjun then justified his promotion to No. 3 with a 19-ball 23 that included a six over long-on off left-arm spinner Vinayak Bhoir.

Going berserk

However, Suryakumar emerged the star of the day, playing a flawless innings. With wickets falling regularly at the other end, he couldn’t switch gears after walking in to bat at No. 4. However, Suryakumar went berserk in the final five overs, smashing 46 off the last 17 balls he faced. Pacer Minad Manjrekar bore the brunt of his onslaught, going for 28 (four sixes and a four) in the 20th over.

Despite Suryakumar’s seven sensational sixes, it was Gomel who played the shot of the day — a short-arm jab off the front foot off left-arm spinner Vinayak Bhoir in the seventh over which sailed over the midwicket fence.

Khanapurkar shines

Parag Khanapurkar’s swashbuckling 96 (49b, 10x4, 5x6) set up SoBo Supersonics’ convincing 48-run win against ARCS Andheri in the night match on Tuesday.