Aditya Tare, Jai Bista fifties help Mumbai thrash Madhya Pradesh

Mumbaiu00e2u0080u0099s wicketkeeper-batsman Aditya Tare in full flight v Madhya Pradesh at the Wankhede Stadium yesterday. PIC/SURESH KARKERA

Mumbai inflicted a nine-wicket thrashing on Madhya Pradesh in their third T20 Mushtaq Ali Trophy match at the Wankhede Stadium on Monday. The hosts continued their dominance in the event and won with 25 balls to spare. Mumbai's opening pair of Jay Bista (68 runs off 38 balls) and Aditya Tare (74 not out off 48) were the chief architects of Mumbai's convincing win in a 111-run opening stand in just 70 balls.

While chasing MP's score of 159-5, Bista, who scored a fifty against Mizoram in the tournament opener, played a variety of strokes; the pick of the shots being a pull off pacer Gaurav Yadav and a clean hit over midwicket off Saransh Jain which resulted in back-to-back-sixes in the eighth and ninth overs respectively. The right-hander reached his 51 off 27 balls.

It was a relief for MP when pacer Kuldeep Sen had Bista caught by midwicket fielder Rajat Patidar, who took a splendid catch. Tare, who scored his first 18 runs in as many balls, needed 38 balls for his 50. The wicketkeeper-batsman remained unbeaten on 74, a knock which included 10 fours and two sixes.
The highlight of the game was Tare's two sixes off the last two balls of the game off Yadav - a helicopter shot over the midwicket fence and an inside out six between point and covers. Tare also shared a 44-run second-wicket stand with captain Suryakumar Yadav (20 not out off 11 balls).

Earlier, after opting to bat, India wicketkeeper-batsman and MP skipper Naman Ojha looked in good nick. He hit fellow international Dhaval Kulkarni for a six and a four through the midwicket region in the fourth over in which Kulkarni conceded 15 runs. However, Ojha's 17-ball 22 was cut short by left-arm spinner Shams Mulani. MP's Parth Sahani (47 runs) was the top scorer for the visitors.

Stars back in Mumbai Twenty20 team

Mumbai's ad-hoc senior selection committee led by Milind Rege made three changes in the team for the remaining four matches of the T20 Mushtaq Ali Trophy. Mumbai Cricket Association secretary Sanjay Naik said: "Shreyas Iyer, Shivam Dube and Shardul Thakur replaced Aquib Qureshi, Deepak Shetty and Jaideep Pardeshi in the Mumbai squad for the remaining games." The committee also decided to continue with Suryakumar Yadav as a skipper despite Iyer returning to the squad. The India batsman led Mumbai in the Vijay Hazare Trophy last month. Prithvi Shaw is expected to return to the team against Assam in the last league game on November 17, a day after serving his eight-month ban for consuming a banned substance.

Brief Scores:
MP 159-5 in 20 overs (P Sahani 47, A Bais 31'; S Mulani 1-17) lost to Mumbai 165-1 in 15.5 overs (A Tare 74', J Bista 68; K Sen 1-29) by 9 wickets