West Zone T20: Mumbai overpower Saurashtra for second victory

Mumbai: Riding on some powerful batting lower down the order and a tidy bowling effort, Mumbai thrashed Saurashtra by 16 runs in the West Zone T20 league game at the MCA’s BKC ground here today. Put in to bat, Mumbai started slowly before Sarfaraz Khan and Sujit Nayak batted aggressively to guide the team to a challenging total of 145 for five. The duo, both of who remained unconquered, piled on 46 runs in just 16 balls for the sixth wicket. Sarfaraz, who made his T20 debut, made a breezy 20-ball 36 that included four fours and a six while Nayak played a blinder, scoring 23 runs off seven balls with tbe help of two fours and as many sixes. Openers Aditya Tare (29) and Sushant Marathe (25) forged a 46-run stand to lay a good platform before both were beaten by flight and stumped off left arm spinner Arpit Vasavda who picked up four wickets. [caption id=“attachment_1463933” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Cheteshwar Pujara hit 60-ball 62 but couldn’t power Saurashtra past the finish line. File picture AFP[/caption] Saurashtra started the run chase slowly and scored just 19 runs in the first six over. They couldn’t accelerate their innings and fell short of the target at 129 for seven. Cheteshwar Pujara opened the innings to make a 60-ball 62 and stuck seven fours and a straight field six off left-arm spiner Nayak. The India Test no. 3 played a lone hand to remain unbeaten till the penultimate over while Sheldon Jackson made 26 and skipper Jaydev Shah notched up 14. Pujara was dismissed while trying to find a boundary and Sushant Marathe took a brilliant catch at deep mid- wicket off the bowling of Mumbai captain Zaheer Khan. Left arm Zaheer got rid off Pruthvi Solanki in the next ball and would have got another wicket in the same over but for a dropped catch. Medium-pacer Prathamesh Dhake scalped three wickets, while Zaheer bagged two. This was Saurashtra’s second successive loss and Mumbai’s second win in three games. Brief scores: Mumbai 145 for 5 (Sarfaraz Khan 36, Aditya Tare 29, Sushant Marathe 25; Arpit Vasavada 4 for 19, Jaydev Unadkat 1 for 37) beat Saurashtra 129 for 5 (Cheteshwar Pujara 62, Sheldon Jackson 22; P Dhake 3 for 25, Zaheer Khan 2 for 29. PTI