Ketan Mhatre’s blistering knock went in vain as Chennai Singams lost to Ahmedabad Lions by two runs in their last league match at the Lalbhai Contractor Stadium in Surat on Monday.
In a run chase of 93, Ketan Mhatre’s blistering knock of 54 runs from 30 balls gave Chennai Singams a hope to chase down the target, but Ahmedabad Lions’ Zaid Khan bowled brilliantly in the last over and Ahmedabad Lions won by 2 runs in a last ball finish.
After being asked to bowl first, Chennai Singams started off being little expensive in the powerplay conceding 24 runs their first two overs. Ashish Pal bowling his second over gave the first breakthrough in the form of Prathamesh Thakare’s wicket. The phrase ‘One brings two’ proved right yet again. Chennai Singams’ golden arm Jagannath Sarkar dismissed the set batter Sikandar Bhatti in the ISPL Swing Ball Over keeping Ahmedabad Lions to 41/2 at the halfway mark of the innings.
In the sixth over, captain Ankur Singh dismissed Pradeep Patil while conceding just two runs in the first over of his spell. Sunil Kumar, who was chosen to bowl the 50-50 Challenge Over, dismissed Sanjay Kanojiya, but Amit Naik smashed 9 Street Runs on the last ball of Sunil’s over which resulted in 19 runs from the 50-50 Challenge Over and it shifted the momentum towards Ahmedabad Lions.
Anurag Sarshar & Ankur Singh bowled economical overs at the death, but Amit Naik’s fireworks in the last over finished the innings of Ahmedabad Lions at 92/5.
Chasing the target of 93, Chennai Singams lost Jagannath Sarkar in the first over for just one run. Vice-captain Ketan Mhatre and Aman Yadav kept the scoreboard ticking but couldn’t expand their 24-run partnership as Aman was dismissed by Ahmedabad Lions skipper Jignesh Patel.
Mohammed Nadeem and Ketan Mhatre smashed 24 runs in the 50-50 Challenge Over bowled by Zaid Khan which shifted the momentum of the game towards Chennai Singams. But Ahmedabad Lions bounced back as Nizam Ali dismissed the in-form Mohammed Nadeem.
Chennai Singams used Sarfraz Khan as the Googly Impact Sub in the match. Ketan Mhatre accelerated his destructive batting by smashing his 2nd half century of ISPL 3 in just 25 balls. Chennai Singams needed 7 runs in the last over, but Ahmedabad Lions had the last laugh in the nail-biting finish, winning by 2 runs in a last ball thriller. Ketan Mhatre was dismissed for 54 runs from 30 balls on the last ball of the match.
Brief scores: Ahmedabad Lions 92/5 in 10 overs (Sikandarbhai Bhatti 34; Ankur Singh 1/6, Jagannath Sarkar 1/9) beat Chennai Singams 90/5 in 10 overs (Ketan Mhatre 54; Jignesh Patel 2/14).
