Owing to its short boundaries and humid conditions, bowling well at the Wankhede takes special kind of expertise in variations of length and speed, and only a handful have mastered the art of excelling with the ball at this iconic venue. While it can be daunting, the following five bowled managed to rise above the challenge and performed exceedingly well at Wankhede during Season 2 of T20 Mumbai.  

These are top five bowlers from the campaign gone by -

Dhrumil Matkar

SoBo SuperSonics’ Dhrumil Matkar finished Season 2 as the league’s leading wicket-taker with 15 and was also one of the most economical bowlers of the lot, giving away just 6.66 runs per over. In his first two outings this season, Matkar picked up only two scalps but in the subsequent game against the Aakash Tigers, the left-arm spinner dismissed three of opposition’s top five batsmen while giving away just 28 in his quota of four overs.

Matkar added three more wickets to his tally in the SuperSonics’ final league stage fixture against the Shivaji Park Lions and was adjudged the Man of the Match for his efforts with the ball. His best performance of the season came in the semi-final, where he completely dismantled the Tigers’ batting lineup and finished with figures of 5-32, the only fifer of the season.    

Atif Attarwala

Speedster Atif Attarwala starred with the ball for the North Mumbai Panthers and picked up 12 wickets in seven outings in Season 2. The left-arm pacer was the only bowler to pick three 3-fers in the campaign, the first of which came against the Eagle Thane Strikers in a run-fest at the Wankhede. Attarwala dismissed opener Sachin Wagh in the powerplay before taking the prized scalps of Aditya Tare and Sagar Mishra on back-to-back deliveries in the 19^th over to effectively end the contest in his team’s favour.

His second three-wicket haul came against the NaMo Bandra Blasters, where he and Rahul Sawant ran through their top order, picking up a couple of wickets each in the first five overs. Attarwala picked up his third in the 19^th, dismissing Aditya Dhumal. Attarwala saved his best for last, picking up his third 3-fer in the final against SuperSonics, where he finished with figures of 3-20 and was adjudged the man-of-the-match for his incredible display.  

Royston Dias

Triumph Knights Mumbai North East’s Royston Dias had a memorable campaign, finishing with 10 scalps in just five matches. The speedster picked up atleast a wicket in four straight matches, leaving his mark in all but one match in Season 2. He picked up two 3-fers, the first of which came against the SoBo SuperSonics, where he bowled a magnificent spell and finished with figures of 3-26 in his quota of four overs and keeping his team alive in the contest right until the very end.

His second came against his former team, the Shivaji Park Lions, in the Knights’ penultimate game of the league stages. Dias picked up his first wicket on just the third delivery of the match, dismissing Rudra Dhanday while his next three came in the final over of the inning, getting rid of Hardik Tamore, Vijay Gohil and Shivam Malhotra in a space of five deliveries to finish with figures of 4-26, the best of his T20 career. Dias was also the only bowler to pick up 10 wickets in the league stages of Season 2. 

Deepak Shetty

Another young pacer who was sensational in Season 2 was SoBo SuperSonics’ Deepak Shetty and he too finished his campaign with 10 wickets. In the SuperSonics’ opening day win over the ARCS Andheri, Shetty bowled a quality spell and finished with figures of 1-16 in three overs. He followed that up with his first 3-fer of the season against defending champions Triumph Knights, dismissing Suryakumar Yadav, Karan More and Vinayak Bhoir while giving away just 18 runs in three overs.

The speedster was relatively quiet for the next four matches but delivered another quality performance in the final, finishing with figures of 3-24 in his quota of four overs, dismissing Swapnil Salvi and Sairaj Patil in the same over before picking up another wicket towards the end of the inning. Shetty was a reliable weapon for the SuperSonics for the majority of the campaign and was announced as the Best Development Player of the season.

Prathamesh Dake

Pacer Prathamesh Dake had an indifferent start to his campaign, averaging close to nine runs per over through the first three matches while picking up just three scalps over that period. However, in the final league stage match against the Knights, the right-arm medium performed significantly better, giving away just 17 runs in his quota of four while picking up a wicket as well.

In the semi-final, Dake was slightly expensive but picked up three crucial wickets, one at the top and a couple towards the end, that restricted the ARCS to 166 after it seemed that 200 was on the cards for the team from Andheri. In the final, Dake was absolutely sensational, dismissing the entire SuperSonics middle order by himself to finish with 3-19, the best figures on either side on the night.