Bista helps Supersonics chase 192 in Monday night thriller

Sobo Supersonics scored their first win of the T20 Mumbai League beating North Mumbai Panthers by three wickets in a thrilling chase at the Wankhede Stadium here on Monday night.

The Panthers scored 192 for four after batting first with half centuries from Salman Ahmed and Sairaj Patil. The Supersonics chased down the stiff target with five balls to spare, thanks to a gutsy half-century from Jay Bista, and useful contributions from Prasad Pawar, Prashant Naik and Gaurav Jathar.

Bista came up with his second fifty in the league, and laid the foundation for the chase. Bista’s 60, which came in 39 balls along with his 47-run stand for the third wicket with Pawar in four overs, kept the Supersonics on course. Bista struck seven fours and a six, while Pawar scored 35 from 17 balls and hit six fours and a six. The Supersonics managed to maintain a run-rate of 10 runs per over right through their innings.

After Bista and Pawar were gone, the Panthers managed to put Supersonics under a bit of pressure, but the decisive partnership between Naik and Jathar sealed the game for the Abhishek Nayar-led unit. The duo added 39 runs from 22 balls to make sure that Supersonics chased down the target with five balls to spare. Naik scored 35 off 19 balls, with the help of four fours and a six. Jathar’s unbeaten 20 came from nine balls, and included two sixes.

North Mumbai Panthers were given a strong start by skipper Ajinkya Rahane and Salman Ahmed. The openers added 42 runs inside five overs before Rahane was dismissed by left-arm spinner Dhrumil Matkar. Hersh Tank, coming in at number 3, made sure that the Panthers didn’t lose the tempo. Tank struck six fours in his 34-run knock that came off 25 deliveries.

Tank and Ahmed added 66 runs for the second wicket in 41 balls. Matkar then struck twice in three balls to reduce Panthers to 108 for three with eight overs to play. All that it did was to bring in Sairaj Patil, who gave Panthers a further lift. While Ahmed was well set by the time Patil came in, it was the latter who came up with big strikes more regularly. Patil smashed five sixes and three fours in his 54-run knock in 26 balls before being run out in the last ball of the innings. Patil and Ahmed added 84 runs for the fifth wicket in the last eight overs.

Ahmed, getting a game after not being included in the playing XI on Sunday, made full use of the opportunity given to him. The strongly-built cricketer batted through the innings and finished unbeaten on 74 from 51 balls, hitting seven fours and four sixes in the process.

Earlier, Namo Mumbai Blasters got their T20 Mumbai League campaign off to a great start, beating Shivaji Park Lions by 12 runs in the afternoon game at the Wankhede Stadium here on Monday.

Being put in to bat first, Blasters scored 182 for five, riding on half centuries from skipper Shreyas Iyer and Aman Khan.

The Lions couldn’t get the kind of start that was required in such a stiff chase. Just like their opponents, Lions couldn’t make the best use of power-play overs, and the asking rate kept climbing up steadily.  Bravesh Shetty kept finding boundaries from one end, but couldn’t get the support from the other end long enough to really threaten the Blasters’ total. Shetty scored 52 from 35 balls with the help of four fours and three sixes.

Raunaq Sharma and Hardik Tamore tried to make a match of it with an important 33-run partnership in 17 balls, but Prashant Bhoir kept his head to get rid of the duo, and helped the Blasters to a 12-run win. Lions ended up scoring 170 for 9 in their chase.