Tiigers of Kolkata were crowned champions of the inaugural Indian Street Premier League - T10 tennis ball tournament after they outplayed Majhi Mumbai by 10 wickets in the summit clash in front of capacity crowd at the Dadoji Kondadev stadium on Friday.
Opting to bowl after winning the tip-top toss, Tiigers of Kolkata not just kept the big hitting Majhi Mumbai batters in check but also took wickets at regular intervals to restrict the team that has scored four of the top five scores in the competition to a meagre 58 for 9. They then chased the target in 7.4 overs without losing a single wicket and kicked-off a grand celebration after 10 days of highly competitive cricket that showcased the quality of tennis ball cricket.
The Indian Street Premier League - T10 is a pioneering Tennis Cricket League with a primary mission to discover, nurture, and elevate cricketers from grassroots levels. It endeavours to unite the finest local cricket talent in India, creating a comprehensive platform for players to showcase their skills.
Tiigers of Kolkata knew that just containing Majhi Mumbai would be difficult and came up with a plan against their skipper Yogesh Penkar and tournament’s top scorer Abhishek Dalhor. Only Vijay Pawle succeeded in reaching double figures as Bhavesh Pawar claimed three wickets for nine runs and was well supported by Raju Mukhiya (2/12) and Babbu Rana (2/18).
In the group matches, Tiigers of Kolkata had bowled out Majhi Mumbai for 45 runs and once again showed why their bowling unit was rated so highly through-out the tournament.
Tiigers of Kolkata openers Prathamesh Pawar and Munna Shaikh then began cautiously and had scored just 16 runs in the first four overs before the latter hit two sixes in the fifth over to ease the pressure.
Both Pawar and Shaikh unbeaten 30 runs with the latter Shaikh finishing the match with a six.
