SoBo SuperSonics did exactly that yesterday during their 35-run win over Shivaji Park Lions in the T20 Mumbai League match at the Wankhede Stadium.
SuperSonicsu00e2u0080u0099s spinner Dhrumil Matkar in flow flight against Lions yesterday. Pic/Suresh Karkera
A team can win a match in the shortest version of the game despite batsmen missing out on numerous scoring opportunities, provided their bowlers can restrict the opposition. SoBo SuperSonics did exactly that yesterday during their 35-run win over Shivaji Park Lions in the T20 Mumbai League match at the Wankhede Stadium.
Left-arm spinner Dhrumil Matkar (3-23), leg-spinner Parag Khanapurkar (2-15) and pacer Deepak Shetty (2-16) not only won the game for SuperSonics, but also helped the team enter the semi-finals. On the other hand, Lions suffered their fourth successive loss in the tournament.
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Stars missing for Lions
In the absence of regular skipper Siddhesh Lad and star all-rounder Shivam Dube, who left for Belgaum to represent India 'A' against Sri Lanka 'A', Lions struggled in their chase of SuperSonics's 150 for six and were bundled out for 115 in 19.3 overs. Captain Raunaq Sharma (30 off 27 balls) and Sachin Yadav (26 off 27 balls) battled hard, but failed to give Lions their first win of the tournament.
Earlier, SuperSonics, who chose to bat first, managed to score 150 for six. Yogesh Takawale was the top-scorer with 40 off 32 balls. He hit two fours and as many sixes. Shivaji Park Lions used four spinners — two left-arm spinners and two leg-spinners. They succeeded in their plan as the Jay Bista-led outfit had scored just 94 for three by the 15th over. Opener Bista (33 off 31) and one-drop Khanapurkar (21 off 28) put on 42 in as many balls for the third wicket. Interestingly, Khanapurkar, who is the third highest scorer in the tournament (186 runs) after Aditya Tare (194) and Suryakumar Yadav (188), yesterday faced 18 dot balls. In, all SuperSonics wasted 53 deliveries during the allotted 20 overs. However, Rohan Raje (17 off 7) and Matkar (15 not out off 4) smashed 33 in the last two overs bowled by pacers — Gaurav Bengre (2-36) and Atish Gawand (1-36) and SuperSonics got a respectable total of 150.
Panthers seal semis berth
In the second match of the day, North Mumbai Panthers handed Triumph Knights a 44-run defeat to qualify for the semi-finals yesterday. Chasing 154 to win, Knights were restricted to 109-7. Akash Parkar top-scored with an unbeaten 20 off 28 balls. Earlier, Knights posted 153-6 helped by all-rounder Sairaj Patil, who scored an unbeaten 59 off 39 balls. Knights' left-arm pacer Royston Dias claimed 2-34.
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