Triumph night for Surya’s boys

On Wednesday night, Mumbai North East Triumph Knights became the maiden champions of the T20 Mumbai League after defeating Shivaji Park Lions by three runs in the final at Wankhede stadium. The win came despite Lions’ Shivam Dubey’s late heroics, as he hit three sixes and a boundary off medium pacer Shashank Singh. However, the bowler had 26 runs to defend and he bowled two dot balls, including a well-disguised last short ball, while Dubey was perhaps anticipating a yorker.

 In the final, they did not need Akash Parkar and Aditya Dhumal, heroes of their opening match, to execute a recovery after being reduced to 34/5 inside powerplays mainly due to Siddharth Raut and Royston Dias’ twin strikes to end up posting a challenging 182/5 on the board.

Yadav, who surprisingly came in at No 7 for the Triumph Knights, joined Parikshit Valsangkar at the crease to launch a counter-attack efficiently after playing themselves in. They were 48/5 at the half way mark before Surya hit his first six off leg-spinner Raunaq Sharma and later took on left-arm spinner Shams Mulani to reach 77/5 in 12 overs.

The introduction of Alpesh Ramjani kept them in check for the 13th over. But Ramjani conceded three boundaries in his next over to Valsangkar as Knights approached hundred.

Parikshit scored 50 in 44 balls while Surya reached his second consecutive 50 in 32 balls with a huge six off Dubey. That 18th over fetched 21 runs before Surya went hammer and tongs at Dias and notching 24 runs in the last over with two sixes and three fours. Surya, who completed his fifty after Valsangkar ended up making his highest score of the tournament with an unbeaten 90 in 42 balls, laced with seven boundaries and as many sixes. Valsangkar finished with 59 not out.

The last five overs yielded 84 runs with four boundaries and eight sixes. The duo shared 148 runs in 87 balls for the sixth wicket. It was the highest run partnership in the tournament and title winning too.

“I was due for a big knock from the league stage. I was chipping in with runs but it was very important to step up. The wicket hadn’t been used for two days and was fresh. I thought of batting first after winning the toss as it was a high-pressure game. I didn’t know the wicket will turn out like that. We lost early wickets. But the same thing (Parkar and Dhumal’s partnership) was in my mind and I tried to bat till the end. Parikshit batted well and we set up a perfect total in the end,” Surya said.

Lions skipper Bravish Shetty unleashed the chase with three fours and one six off Vaibhav Patil, who had removed Paul Valthaty in his first over. Shetty, who was the most consistent batsmen for his side made 32 in 17 balls before holing out to Surya off Dhumal.

Ramjani and Hardik Tamore, who masterminded the chase of 195 against Supersonics on Tuesday with a 90-run partnership, repeated the feat on Wednesday with an 82-run stand for the fourth wicket. Tamore gave impetus to innings with two sixes in the 14th over off off-spinner Kalpesh Sawant.

Ramjani was struggling to find big shots like the other night and was just coming into groove when Vaibhav Singh (3/38) dismissed both well set batsmen in the 17th over to derail the chase. Ramjani made 48 in 38 balls while Tamore scored 39 in 31 balls. Left-arm pacer Atif Attarwala (2/23) took two more wickets in the 18th, making it tough for the Lions despite their two successful chases in the eliminator and the second qualifier.

Chasing 26 in the last ball saw Man of the Series Dubey, who hit five sixes in Pravin Tambe’s over in the eliminator, unleashing big hits with four sixes but it wasn’t just enough. This was the fourth consecutive match for Lions in as many days.

Triumph Knights skipper Surya, about the win, said, “I had played local cricket with these players and knew them. Everyone chipped in. It was a good tournament for me as a leader and it will help me in the future.”