Mumbai, which suffered a disappointing defeat against Kerala in the previous round, couldn’t have expected a far easier opposition than Nagaland and it expectedly pulled off a convincing, seven-wicket win in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy Group E match at Gymkhana Ground here on Sunday.
Batting first, Nagaland put up a dismal show but for opener Dega Nischal (42, 39b, 7×4), who played some fluent strokes on either side of the wicket. Captain R. Jonathan (24, 25b, 4×4) was the only other Nagaland batter to cross the double-figures as it eventually posted a below-par total of 107 on a beautiful T20 wicket.
Mumbai pace duo of Shardul Thakur, putting behind the disappointing show against Kerala (4-0-69-1) in the previous game, and Mohit Avasthi bowled well to pick three wickets apiece.
In reply, Prithvi Shaw and Angkrish Raghuvanshi were slow to start, scoring 28 in the first five overs, a phase which also saw Shaw dropped on five, going for a big heave at deep square-leg off leggie Khrievitso Kense.
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But once Shaw and Raghuvanshi decided to open up, it was pretty obvious it was soon going to turn out to be a mismatch as the two put on 77 runs in 9.2 overs. Shaw (40, 29b, 3×4, 3×6), who earlier hit three towering sixes, was bowled while trying to swing Lemtur but not before giving glimpses of his class with some wonderful strokes.
At the other end, Raghuvanshi (41 n.o., 31b, 5×4,1×6) was more solid and displayed controlled aggression, not hesitating to play a beautifully timed reverse sweep besides some flowing drives in the ‘V’ to guide Mumbai to an easy win.
In another match at the Uppal Stadium, Andhra secured its fourth win after it defeated Services by 23 runs, thanks to half-centuries by K. Srikar Barat (63, 39b, 6×4, 3×6) and captain Ricky Bhui (84, 35b, 10×4, 5×6) and three-wicket hauls by pacers C. Stephen and K.V. Sasikanth.
The scores:
At Gymkhana:
Nagaland 107 in 19.4 overs (Dega Nischal 42, Shardul Thakur 3-12, Mohit Avasthi three for 10) lost to Mumbai 108/3 in 12.1 overs (Prithvi Shaw 40, Angkrish Raghuvanshi 41 n.o.)
At Uppal:
Andhra 222/8 in 20 overs (K. Srikar Bharat 63, Ricky Bhui 84) bt Services 199/9 in 20 overs (Rajat Paliwal 33, Vineet Dhankhar 51, Mohit Ahlawat 74, C. Stephen 3/26, K.V. Sasikanth 3/50).