Chasing 71 for a direct entry to Saturday’s summit clash, Majhi Mumbai recovered from the early dismissals of Rajat Mundhe and Mohammed Nadeem with Yogesh Penkar and Mahendra Chandan rebuilding the ship with calculative risks. During the process, Mahendra took the attack back to the opposition with some audacious shot-making, that saw the youngster smoking two sixes and a four for his 9-ball 19. Yogesh, at the other end, was happy to rotate the strike with an unbeaten 16-ball 17 even as wickets kept falling at regular intervals.

With Mumbai needing in excess of 24 from the last three overs, the stage was set for star all-rounder Abhishek Kumar Dalhor to showcase his prowess in the 50-50 challenge over, and he responded with a massive six to almost get the job done before Amit Naik got the winning runs with a stylish boundary as Mumbai overhauled the target with 11 deliveries to spare.

For Hyderabad, Vishwajit Thakur was the pick of the bowlers, returning 2/22 while Mansoor KL, Parveen Kumar and Irfan Umair bagged a wicket apiece.

Earlier, Aakash Jangid’s 17-ball 23 was the only saving grace for the Falcon Risers Hyderabad that saw their batting crumble under pressure in the crucial contest. Put in to bat, Hyderabad lost their star opener Kisan Satpute in the first over of their innings before losing two more wickets of Padmesh Mhatre and Vishwajit Thakur in the second over from Ankur Singh.

Reduced to 9/3, Aakash and Prabjyot Singh (5) raised Hyderabad’s hopes with a 20-run partnership before Abhishek Kumar Dalhor and Vijay Pawle combined to pick five wickets between them, that triggered a collapse helping Mumbai bundle Hyderabad out for 70 in 9.4 overs.

The Majhi Mumbai bowlers were on the money right from the onset, with the new ball pair of Rajendra Singh and Ankur picking two wickets apiece before Abhishek (3/13) and Vijay (2/14) joined the party to restrict the Hyderabad batters without losing much sweat.

Earlier in the day, popular singer Adnan Sami mesmerised the audience with his soulful melodies and powerful performance, creating an unforgettable musical experience in the cricketing extravaganza.

On Thursday, Srinagar Ke Veer and KVN Bangalore Strikers will lock horns in the Eliminator on Thursday. The Falcon Risers Hyderabad will face the winner of the Eliminator in the second qualifier on Friday. All matches are LIVE on Star Sports 1 (TV) and Disney+ Hotstar (OTT).

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Bengaluru, February 12: The second season of the Indian Street Premier League (ISPL) has finally reached its business end with the top four teams from the league stages gearing up for the knockouts, that starts with the first qualifier between table toppers Majhi Mumbai and second-placed Falcon Risers Hyderabad at the Dadoji Kondadev Stadium here on Wednesday.

Srinagar Ke Veer and KVN Bangalore Strikers are the two other teams to have made their way into the top four stages.

Having finished the inaugural ISPL season as the runners-up, Majhi Mumbai appeared to have approached the second season with a mission to complete unfinished business, and enjoyed a flawless run in their first eight games before a minor blip in the ninth, saw them going down to Srinagar Ke Veer. The Mumbai outfit, however, managed to get their act together in the final league stage game to eventually finish on top of the points table with nine wins out of their 10 games.

Mumbai’s march to the top of the table has been a result of collective effort from the likes of Rajat Mundhe, who finished the league stage as the second-highest run-getter with 251 runs to his name, and the pair of Abhishek Kumar Dalhor and Ankur Singh, finding themselves in the 1-2 position among the highest wicket-takers, with 19 and 15 scalps, respectively.

The trio will be expected to play a key role in the first qualifier as the winner between Majhi Mumbai and Falcon Risers Hyderabad will earn a direct ticket to the final.

Meanwhile, for the Hyderabad outfit, that has blown hot and cold through the season, and eventually ended the league stage with six wins from 10 games, the onus will be on star opener Kisan Satpute to bring his A game into play. Among their bowlers, Vicky Bhoir ended the league stage on the third place with 13 scalps, while Parveen Kumar’s 12 wickets kept them at the fifth spot.

Following the first qualifier, Srinagar and Bangalore will lock horns in the Eliminator on Thursday, with the winner taking on the loser of the first qualifier, in the second qualifier, scheduled for Friday.

All eyes will be on the in-form Sagar Ali, who has been instrumental in guiding the Srinagar side to the top four after finishing the league stage as the highest run-getter, notching up 372 runs, with a highest score of 52. Sahil Longale has been another consistent force with the ball for the Srinagar side, that finished third with five wins from 10 outings. Sahil has so far amassed 12 scalps to find himself on the fourth spot among the highest wicket-takers.

KVN Bangalore Strikers narrowly managed to make it to the top four, despite being the most inconsistent of all the other sides. While none of their batters or bowlers found themselves among the top five performers in the league stages, they will bank on the duo of Krushna Pawar and Irfan Patel to see them through to the second qualifier.

All matches are LIVE on Star Sports 1 (TV) and Disney+ Hotstar (OTT).

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Chennai’s defeat also confirmed KVN Bangalore Strikers as the fourth team in the play-offs, alongside Mumbai, Falcon Risers Hyderabad and Srinagar Ke Veer. Having registered four wins from their nine games in the season so far, Bangalore are assured of their place in the play-offs, irrespective of the outcome of their final league game against Tiigers of Kolkata on Monday.

In the play-offs, that start on Wednesday, Mumbai will face Hyderabad in the first qualifier before Bangalore lock horns with Srinagar in the Eliminator, the following day.

In between the matches, Nikhita Gandhi captivated the weekend crowd with her mesmerising voice and high-energy performance, making it an evening to remember.

Electing to field after winning the toss, Chennai were left to rue their decision as Mumbai piled on a mammoth total of 122 for 3 in their 10 overs. In reply, the Singams could only manage to post 98 for 6.

Mumbai were boosted by an unbeaten half-century by opener Mohammed Nadeem, who was the team’s top scorer on the day with 50 runs off 28 deliveries. His innings was studded with three boundaries and as many sixes. Nadeem received excellent support from his opening partner Rajat Mundhe, who scored 38 runs off 20 balls, hitting four sixes and a boundary along the way.

The duo put together an opening stand of 60 runs in just over five overs to give the Mumbai innings a rock-solid foundation.

Mohammad Zeeshan was the only Chennai bowler to taste some amount of success, returning figures of 2/15 in his two overs.

Chasing the formidable target, the Chennai batting line-up put up a brave fight as they attempted to take the fight to the rival camp with some aggressive batting. But the sheer weight of the rather daunting target proved to be a bit too much.

The jitters in the Chennai camp were evident early during their innings. The Singams were off to a poor start, losing their top order quite cheaply and were struggling at 24/3 in the fourth over.

Thereafter, Sumeet Dhekale led a strong fight back by the Singams, remaining unbeaten on 45 off 30 deliveries, powered by three boundaries and as many sixes However, that did not prove to be enough in the end.

Hyderabad beat Srinagar by 13 runs

Falcon Risers Hyderabad posted a healthy 77 for 7, revolved mainly around Aakash Jangid’s 24-ball 31 and some late order fireworks from Shreyash Kadam (11) and Sambhaji Patil (10 not out), after being asked to bat by Srinagar Ke Veer. Suvronil Roy starred for the bowling side, claiming impressive figures of 4/8 while Sahil Longale picked 2/13.

In reply, Srinagar lost in-form opener Sagar Ali for a rare duck, but fellow opener Akash Tarekar and Sanskar Dhyani steadied the ship taking calculative risks to reach 24/1 midway through their innings. However, Vishwajit Thakur (3/14) and Irfan Umair (3/13) pulled back things for the Hyderabad outfit, sharing six wickets between them to restrict Srinagar for 64/7.

On Monday, defending champions Tiigers of Kolkata will look to wrap up a rather ordinary season on a high in their face-off against KVN Bangalore Strikers. All matches are LIVE on Star Sports 1 (TV) and Disney+ Hotstar (OTT).

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Today’s victory saw Majhi Mumbai continue their rampaging form as they have won all the four matches they have played this season. On the other hand, this was the second consecutive defeat for Srinagar following their defeat to Chennai Singams on Thursday.

Chasing a stiff target of 70 runs, Mumbai were on to a good start with Nadeem leading the early charge. The opener scored 24 runs off 14 deliveries with one boundary and two sixes before falling to Firoz Shaikh while attempting another big shot.

Firoz dealt another blow to Mumbai with his very next ball, trapping Abhishek Kumar Dalhor lbw with an excellent incoming delivery. The double blow off consecutive deliveries slowed down Mumbai’s run rate, but not for long as Naik and More took charge.

The duo plundered runs almost at will with Naik coming up with the first Niner of the tournament as Mumbai went past the finishing line with seven balls to spare.

Earlier, asked to bat first, Srinagar Ke Veer posted 69/6 in their 10 overs. Sagar Ali anchored the innings and emerged as the top scorer with a calculative 42 off 31 balls to guide Srinagar to a fighting total. The opener batted for almost the entire length of the Srinagar innings and kept the scoreboard ticking on at a healthy rate even as wickets fell at the other end.

Ali finally fell in the final over while attempting a mighty heave off the bowling of Abhishek Kumar Dalhor. But the left-hander was deceived by the slower delivery and totally mistimed his shot only to see the top edge travel to the third man position for an easy catch.

Vijay Pawle was the most successful among the Mumbai bowlers, pegging back the Srinagar batting effort with excellent figures of 4/9 in his two overs.

In the other match of the evening, Tiigers of Kolkata will take on Chennai Singams. All matches are LIVE on Star Sports 1 (TV) and Disney+ Hotstar (OTT).

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Continuing his glorious run of form in the tournament, Ali plundered 51 runs off 25 balls with five hits to the fence and three towering sixes studding his unbeaten knock as Srinagar overhauled the challenging target of 88 runs with two deliveries to spare. With that knock, Ali also became the first batter in ISPL to record two consecutive fifties.

Put in to bat, Kolkata were off to a steady start with openers Moyoddin Shaikh and Fardeen Kazi scoring at a steady pace. Srinagar finally achieved a breakthrough when Kazi perished while going for a bit hit off the bowling of Prajyot Ambhire.

Shaikh anchored the Kolkata innings, emerging as the top scorer with a run-a-ball 23 before being sent back to the pavilion by Firoz Shaikh. However, Bhavesh Pawar, who smashed 17 runs off six balls with one boundary and two sixes, ensured that the runs kept coming at a fast clip alongside Subhajit Jana Dhoni, who stayed unbeaten on 10.

Chasing the challenging target, Srinagar were off to a flying start with Sagar Ali plundering 13 runs in the opening over, which yielded a total of 18 runs.

Kolkata had a glimpse of of hope when Mangesh Vaity, Akash Tarekar and Shahbaz Ahmad went back to the dugout in quick succession. However, Ali and Sanskar Dhyani ensured that Srinagar regained the upper hand with their big-hitting ability.

KVN Bangalore Strikers are playing against Majhi Mumbai in the other match later today. All matches are LIVE on Star Sports 1 (TV) and Disney+ Hotstar (OTT).

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