Mumbai Police Cityriders, who were given a jolt by Shivaji Park Warriors in their concluding league tie yesterday, turned the tables on the Warriors by four wickets to enter the final of the Mitsui Shoji T-20 League, sponsored by Lal Bharwaney and held at Police Gymkhana ground, here today. The Cityriders will take on defending champions Ghatkopar Jets, who settled the pretension of strong favourites Bandra Heroes, the league table-toppers, by beating them by 26 runs at Oval Maidan.
Omkar Jadhav, who top-scored for Mumbai Police Cityriders, receiving the Man-of-the-Match award from ….Srilankan ex- Test stalwart Chaminda Vaas and Jwala Singh, the Director of Mitsui Shoji T20 League..
Batting first, Shivaji Park Warriors put up a fighting 195 before they were all out in 19.4 overs. Chasing 196, the Cityriders top order batted cautiously, but aggressively to overhaul their target for the loss six wickets with Omkar Jadhav leading the chase with 59.
While in the other semifinal, the table-topper Bandra Heroes opting to field first, saw Ghatkopar Jets hitting up 184 with opener Karan Nandy, top scoring with 73. In reply, the Bandra Heroes batting failed to live up to expectations. But for opener Aman Khan (38) and skipper Sujit Nayak (38) none of the other batsmen could make an impact as spinners Puneet Tripathi (3/39), Pushkraj Chavan (3/23) ran through their side, 26 runs short of the target.
Brief scores: (semifinals):
Shivaji Park Warriors 195 all out in 19.4 overs (Eknath Kerkar 44, Sagar Mishra 47, Raunaq Sharma 52; Neeraj Singh 3/28, Ravindra Jadhav 2/34, Rakesh Prabhu 2/28) lost to Mumbai Police Cityriders 196/6 in 18.4 overs (Omkar Jadhav 59- 5×4), Hardik Tamore 28, Shivam Dubey 25, Shrikant Limbole 28) by 4 wkts. . Man-of-the-match: Omkar Jadhav.
Ghatkopar Jets 184 /8 off 20 overs (Karan Nandy 73- 8×4, 1×6), Nikhil Datey 2/18, Shashank Attarde 2/25, Minad Manjrekar 3/39) bt Bandra Heroes 158 all out in 19.2 overs ( Aman Khan 38, Sujit Nayak 38; Puneet Tripathi 3/39, Pushakraj Chavan 3/23) by 26 runs. Man-of-the-match: Karan Nandy.