Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy: Mumbai's Akash Parkar powers team to seven-wicket victory over Maharashtra

Rajkot: Mumbai registered a thumping seven-wicket win over arch rivals Maharashtra in the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 West Zone League match in Rajkot on Thursday. For Mumbai, medium pacer Akash Parkar starred with the bowl as he picked up three wickets to help his side bundle out Maharashtra for a meagre 89. [caption id=“attachment_4217013” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. Getty Images[/caption] Parkar, who returned with the impressive figures of 3-22 was superbly aided by all other bowlers - Shivam Dube (2-7), Parikshit Valsangkar (2-22), experienced Shardul Thakur (1-13) and Dhawal Kulkarni (1-20). For Maharashtra, expect opener Rahul Tripathi and one down Vijay Zol (both 21 runs in 16 balls), no other batsman was able to make a mark and steer the team out of trouble. Another opener Ruturaj Gaikwad (3) and experienced Ankit Bawne (9) too fell cheaply. The Mumbai bowlers took wickets and never allowed the opposition batsman to set in. While chasing, skipper Aditya Tare remained unbeaten on 42 in 26 balls to romp the side home. The experienced Siddhesh Lad, who was the team’s crisis man in the Ranji Trophy this year, chipped in with a valuable 25 off 15 balls and steadied their ship after the side was teetering at 17 for 2. Earlier, Mumbai lost both their openers Eknath Kerkar (2) and Jay Bista (3) quickly. Surya Kumar Yadav remained unbeaten on 12 with skipper Tare as Mumbai overhauled the target in the tenth over. Brief Scores: Maharashtra 89 all out (Rahul Tripathi 21, Akash Parkar 3-22) lost to Mumbai 92/3 (Aditya Tare 42 not out, Siddesh Lad 25, J P Zope 1-14).