T20 Mumbai 2019, Match 4, Review: ARCS Andheri defeat NaMo Bandra Blasters in a last-ball thriller

ARCS Andheri beat NaMo Bandra Blasters in an absolute thriller to start the campaign in Mumbai T20 league on a winning note. Andheri chased down the 177-run target on the very last ball of the game to register a thrilling five-wicket win.

Asked to bat first, NaMo Bandra Blasters started disastrously with both their openers departing inside 18 runs. Tushar Deshpande dismissed both Eknath Kerkar and skipper Shreyas Iyer in the third over to reduce the Blasters to a precarious 18 for 2. But Prasad Pawar and Nikhil Patil did not let ARCS Andheri capitalise on the early breakthroughs as they stitched together a 75-run stand for the third wicket to bring the innings back on track.

Azhar Ansari broke the stand when he dismissed Pawar for 47. But Pawar’s dismissal did not bring any respite for Andheri as Patil found a good partner in Sujit Nayak. In fact, it was Nayak who did the bulk of the scoring during the unbeaten 83-run stand.  The Blasters were looking more or less certain to finish somewhere near 150.

However, Nayak had some other plans as he smashed an unbeaten 52 from just 21 balls to power his side to a competitive 176 for 3. Nayak’s knock was studded with one four and five sixes. On the other hand, Patil played the role of second fiddle to perfection and remained unbeaten on 55 from 42.

Herwadkar leads the way

In reply, ARCS Andheri started on a shaky note too with opener Sufiyan Shaikh departing for just 7. Skipper Kevin Almeida could not do much either and fell to Saksham Jha for just 17. At the end of the powerplay, Andheri scored 51 but had lost two precious wickets. Akhil Herwadkar and Shubham Ranjane then provided the innings with some much-needed solidarity. The duo took the score over the 100-run mark before Sujit Nayak castled Ranjane for 39 to bring an end to the 71-run stand.

Three runs later, Chitnis accounted for Pankaj Jaiswal before also dismissing a well set Herwadkar for 56 to reduce Andheri to 126 for 5 from 115 for 2. But just when it looked the Blasters are the favourites to win the game, Gaurav Jathar and Azhar Ansari brought back Andheri in the game. The two shared an unbeaten stand of 54 runs to take their side over the line in the last over.

Brief scores:

NaMo Bandra Blasters 176 for 3 after 20 overs (Patil 55*, Nayak 52*; Deshpande 2-36)

ARCS Andheri 180 for 5 after 20 overs (Herwadkar 56, Ranjane 39; Nayak 2-19)

Result: ARCS Andheri won by five wickets.

Man of the Match: Akhil Herwadkar

Get the latest Cricket News and updates from World Cup 2019, Match Predictions, Fantasy Cricket Tips and lots more on CricTracker.com.