T20: Panthers pounce on Eagles

Panthers's Karan Nande in full flight against Eagle Thane Strikers yesterday. Pic/Suresh Karkera

North Mumbai Panthers beat Eagle Thane Strikers by six runs in a high-scoring contest of the T20 Mumbai League at the Wankhede Stadium yesterday. With 26 required off the last two overs, the Strikers came quite close to the Panthers's 190-8 before pacers Atif Attarwala (3-37) and Moondeep Mangela (0-31) bowled sensibly to restrict the Strikers to 184-5.

Tare's 71 in vain
Strikers's opener Kaushik Chikhalikar (56 runs off 41 balls) and one-drop batsman Aditya Tare (71 off 44) ensured their team began the chase well. Skipper Tare first shared an 87-run second-wicket partnership off 55 balls with Chikhalikar and later stitched a 54-run stand off 33 balls with Sagar Mishra (22 off 15 balls) for the fourth wicket. However, Mishra's dismissal in the 19th over put the Strikers in a spot of bother.

With 16 required off the last six, Alpesh Ramjani (9 not out) and Ashwary Surve (6 not out) failed to take their team over the line with the duo managing just nine off Mangela's final over. Earlier, batting at No. 7, Panthers's all-rounder Karan Nande displayed some hard hitting to take his team from 129-5 in the 14th over (when he stepped in) to 190-8 in the allotted 20 overs. Nande's 23-ball 50 was laced with nine fours before he was caught at long-on by Ramjani off Surve. Sairaj Patil contributed 46 off 18 balls.

Panthers's skipper Prithvi Shaw (22 off 12 balls) began well, hitting four boundaries, before a misunderstanding with fellow opener Vikrant Auti (22 off 20) saw Shaw depart. Shaw, who was rushing to the wicketkeeper's end, failed to make the crease before Mishra's throw from the point region was neatly gathered by wicketkeeper Tare, who dislodged the bails in a flash.

Herwadkar stars for Andheri
Meanwhile, Akhil Herwadkar's 46-ball 56 helped Arcs Andheri beat NaMo Bandra Blasters by five wickets in the second encounter of Day Two yesterday. The Andheri side chased Bandra's 176-3 off the last ball. Sujit Nayak was the pick of the bowlers for Blasters with 2-19.

Earlier, even though
star batsman Shreyas Iyer (10) returned to the pavilion early (in the third over) Bandra put a challenging total of 176 for three. Nayak's 21-ball unbeaten 52 which was laced with five towering sixes and a boundary. Nayak stitched an 83-run unbeaten stand for the fourth wicket with Nikhil Patil, who scored 55 not out off 42 balls. One-drop batsman Prasad Pawar too was impressive with his 41-ball 47. Pacer Tushar Deshpande claimed 2-36 for the Andheri side.

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