Aakash Tigers clinch a win while Surya stars with an unbeaten 90*in the opening day of T20 Mumbai’19
There was something which we witnessed today was a start of a movement for the local cricket. Yes it was a small beginning, it was a humble start but yes whatever it was, they were good signs for local cricket. If day 1 of the match can bring this much attention from the crowd as well as the media, the tournament will certainly have a huge traction by the end of the season 2!
When our CG team attended the media box end at the Wankhede Stadium, on their way, they found ticket vendors selling tickets outside station, they came across young boys asking for the route to Gate no.7, there was a proper entourage of security for the crowd to handle and to everyone’s delight, on a hot sunny summer day which also happens to be a working day, there was full media attendance from various media houses, there were spectators coming out in support of T20 Mumbai, the attendance in the crowd was surely not in three digits, there were special team buses with their team logos, there was band and cheerleaders! For a moment, it never looked like it was T20 Mumbai, it looked like any other International quality match happening at the Wankhede and these are nothing but wonderful signs for Mumbai Cricket where the club and first class cricketers are finally getting recognized.
Triumph Knights Mumbai North East batting first were found to be struggling with wickets falling at regular intervals. In an innings where the 2nd highest score was just 14, it was again Surya fresh from an IPL Trophy win a day ago shining truly like a sun. Coming at no.4, Suryakumar batted till the very end showing he belongs to a different league altogether. A well crafted 90* off just 56 balls witnessed 4 fours and 7 sixes and the best part of his innings was how he changed gears during the death overs. In the 1st half of his innings, Surya was playing at a strike rate of lower 100’s but he ended his innings with a strike rate of almost 180 with 28 runs in the last over thrashing youngster Minad Manjrekar for big sixes. Surya eventually took Mumbai North East to a total of 147/6 in 20 overs. Anjdeep Lad with 2/12 and Dhawal Kulkarni with 1/23 in 4 overs were the pick of the bowlers from Aakash Tigers.
Chasing 148, Aakash Tigers were off to a solid start with openers A Gomel (34) and Kaustub Pawar (41) putting up 67 runs for the 1st wicket. The rest of the batsman chipped in with starts as Aakash Tigers crossed the victory line in 19.3 overs winning the match by 5 wkts.
It was a good win for Aakash Tigers but it was certainly Surya stealing the show bringing in his T20 experience and form into T20 Mumbai!
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