TKC Mavs came up tops in what ended up being a clash of the Slog overs as the match’s fate was decided in the last 4 overs of each of the innings.
Senayan India XI (SI) chose to bat first after winning the toss and would have very soon regretted that decision as two wickets fell in the first over of the game including a run-out. Nimesh Shah bowled a brilliant opening spell of 3 overs where he conceded just 2 runs and also captured 2 wickets. This coupled with good support from Swaroop Chavan at the other end meant that SI could barely scrape through to 14 for 3 in the power play.
Amar Kapadia and skipper Syed Kabir then steadied the ship to take the side to 61 for 4 in the 12th over. Syed Kabir then decided to up the ante with some big hits as 40 runs came off the next 4 overs before he fell for a well-compiled 55 runs of 31 balls. Padmakar Surve who had conceded 27 runs in his opening two overs fought back with a good 20th over but the late surge by Syed & Sampath Kumar had given SI a fighting total of 142 in their 20 overs.
The TKC Mavs chase was also off to a rocky start as Gema Fajar struck in his first over, but some loose bowling in the form of extras allowed TKC Mavs to reach 27 for 2 in the power play. Nitin Asija & Padmakar Surve consolidated as they put on 50 runs in the next 7 overs. Paddy was not hitting the big ones but was still scoring at run-a-ball but with 54 runs needed in the last 5 overs, there was a need to accelerate.
Paddy was doing an MS Dhoni act by taking it deep while his team-mates were deep in anxiety in the pavilion. 42 runs were now needed in the last 3 overs and that is when Paddy exploded needing only 2 of the remaining 3 overs to finish the job with Gaurav Pathak also chipping in as TKC Mavs got home with an over to spare in a thrilling chase.
