TKC Mavs prevailed in the last over of a manic Battle of Collapses to hand Yadavas WISCI Tigers their first loss in the R.P. Singh Memorial cup.
Yadavas WISCI Tigers chose to bat first after winning the toss and Muhaddis got things off to a flying start with 14 runs in the first over but he perished soon after in the 2nd over trying to hit Swaroop Chavan for the second six of the over. Nimesh Shah also fought back after an expensive first over to take a couple of more wickets and the Tigers reached 49 for 3 after the 7th over. Gamantika & Rico Ramadhyasena took fancy to Aryan Khan as 44 runs came off his 3 overs and Tigers registered their 100 in just the 12th over.
A mighty collapse triggered by Gamantika’s run-out and then some very good bowling by Paddy & Keyur Moradia saw the Tigers lose their last 7 wickets for just 38 runs and squander the solid platform they had built. The target of 140 was still a fighting one given the strong bowling the Tigers had.
Muhammad Raihan started well for the Tigers including the wicket of the dangerous Keyur Moradia, but Deepak Singh from the other end was still struggling to dust the cobwebs off and that allowed TKC Mavs to get off to a decent power play score of 38 for 1. Gaurav Pathak meanwhile had dusted the cobwebs off his bat as he seemed in great 6 hitting form but Muhaddis had him hitting back for a caught & bowled and once again, the chase depended on Padmakar Surve. Paddy hit 16 runs of the 16th over and Samir Sharma too joined in the fun to reduce the target to a very achievable 23 runs in 24 balls with 7 wickets in hand.
The game then changed on its head when Raihan bowled a double-wicket maiden including the scalp of Paddy and Anjar Tadarus followed it up with a 4 run 18th over. 19 runs were now needed in 2 overs and only 4 wickets in hand and the game seemed to have swung in the Tigers’ favor.
Nitin Asija however had a different plan in mind as he clubbed 15 runs off the 19th over to bring it right back in TKC Mavs favor with just 4 runs needed of the 20th over. Anjar Tadarus added further twists to the already undulating plot with 2 wickets off the first 3 balls of the 20th over. Swaroop Chavan however held his nerve to take TKC Mavs home with one ball and two wickets in hand. Phew….
