A clinical display with the ball and a gritty effort with the bat ensured SoBo SuperSonics got a nervy -wicket victory over the Triumph Knights Mumbai North East in the afternoon game at the Wankhede on Thursday. With this win, the SuperSonics went to the top of Group B with four points.

The decision to bowl first worked like a charm for the SuperSonics as pacers Badre Alam and Rohan Raje gave away just seven in the opening two overs of the contest. With the pressure building, opener Shikhar Thakur tried to accelerate the scoring but ended up losing his wicket to Dhrumil Matkar, who bowled a wicket-maiden in that over.

In the fifth over, keeper Yogesh Takawale showcased some magic with the gloves and got rid of the dangerous Karan Shah with the scoreboard reading 26-2. Triumph Knights lost their third wicket just a couple of overs later as Vaibhav Mali broke through Parikshit Valasangkar’s defence with a ripper of a delivery.

Having seen partners perish one after another from the non-striker’s end, keeper-batsman Sumit Ghadigaonkar looked to take the attack to the opposition and turn the tide in his side’s favour. But he too had to walk back after missing a delivery from Parag Khanapurkar that crashed straight into the stumps, leaving Triumph Knights four down with just 54 on the board.

Captain Suryakumar Yadav and Karan More managed to steady the innings with a 46-run partnership while also accelerating the scoring rate getting the team in a good position to finish the innings strong as they did in their previous encounter. However, in the 16th over, the Knights were delivered a huge blow as captain Yadav had to walk back after mistiming a shot, a timely wicket for the SuperSonics.

However, More continued to bat right up until the last over, completing his 50 and helping the Knights pile up 143 on the scoreboard.

Just like their bowling effort, the SuperSonics were off to the perfect start in the powerplay as openers Jay Bista and Hersh Tank smashed 38 in the first four overs to get their team in control of proceedings early in the chase. With the team in need, captain Yadav handed the ball to Royston Dias and the tall speedster did not disappoint, as he managed to get rid of SuperSonics captain Jay Bista and get his team back in the contest.

In-form Parag Khanapurkar looked in great nick during his stay at the crease, but it was cut short in the ninth over by Prasad Patil, leaving the SuperSonics two down with 70 on the board. Spinners Prasad Patil and Vinayak Bhoir kept the scoring under check for the next fours, allowing just 23 runs. Patil also managed to get rid of Tank with the final delivery of the 13th over to even the scales in the contest.

Mansingh Nigade managed to ease the pressure on his team by a bit after his back-to-back boundaries in the 14th over, however, Valasangkar dismissed him in the very next over, to keep the SuperSonics under the cosh. Two tight overs from Bhoir and Dias that yielded just 13 runs and the wicket of Yogesh Takawale brought the Triumph Knights back into the contest, but 10 runs from the 18th left the SuperSonics needing just 12 of the final two overs.

Just like in the powerplay, captain Yadav handed the ball to Dias and the pacer delivered yet again, picking up the wicket of Raje while allowing just five runs to leave the SuperSonics needing seven off the final over to win the contest.  Batsman Adeeb Usmani’s deft touch down to thirdman got his team a timely boundary before scoring the remaining three in singles and finish a tight contest for his team.

Score kya hai?

SoBo SuperSonics (Hersh Tank 47, Jay Bista 24, Royston Dias 3-26) beat

Triumph Knights Mumbai North East (Karan More 55, Karan Shah 16, Deepak Shetty 3-18).