Aakash Tigers Mumbai Western Suburb booked a place in the semi-final of the T20 Mumbai League with a thumping win over Shivaji Park Lions on Thursday while Eagle Thane Strikers missed out on a spot despite recording an emphatic victory against NaMo Bandra Blasters on Thursday.
Both sides needed wins in their respective fixtures to stand a chance to qualify for the semi-final but in the end the Tigers made the cut.
While the Blasters were out of contention with both the qualifiers from Group B having been already identified, the Strikers had to score huge win to not only get its tally to four points - same as the Triumph Knights Mumbai North East and Aakash Tigers MWS.
And the Strikers came up with a perfect outing against the Blasters.
While the bowlers justified the decision to insert the opposition by restricting Blasters to 148 for 7, a rejigged top-order, led by a whirlwind 34-ball 91-run partnership for the third wicket between captain Aditya Tare and Rakesh Prabhu, meant the Strikers chased down the target in just 11.2 overs, losing just three wickets.
The win meant that the seven-wicket win helped Strikers surge from the bottom of the group to the second place before Tigers sealed the final playoff spot.
In the penultimate game of the league stage, crucial knocks from Bhavin Thakkar and Shams Mulani meant that Shivaji Park Lions ended the season without a win.
Chasing a modest target of 128, Thakkar initially curbed his attacking instincts to build an innings and play the ball on merit.
With his team in a spot of bother at 42/3 after seven and a half overs, Thakkar showed great character and determination to pick the Tigers out of a spot of bother. Despite the track favouring the spinners, the opener played his shots against Raunaq Sharma and Vijay Gohil to ensure the Tigers were always in command of the chase. He ended the game at 65* with eight fours and a six, building a match-winning partnership of 89 runs with Shams Mulani to see his side through to the semi-finals.
Brief scores:
Aakash Tigers MWS: 131/3 (Bhavin Thakkar 65, Shams Mulani 40, Jai Kothari 1/13) beat Shivaji Park Lions: 127/6 (Nikhil Patil 37, Manan Khakhar 23, Salman Khan 2/36) by seven wickets
Eagle Thane Strikers (Rakesh Prabhu 64*, Aditya Tare 50, Aditya Dhumal 2-29) beat Bandra Blasters (Shrideep Mangela 42, Shreyas Iyer 25, Kruthik Hanagavadi 2-33) by seven wickets
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