Kotak Mahindra are the Champions of Milan Corporate League T20; defeat Mihir Trading in super over thriller
Venue: Plot 4, Cross Maidan
Ever since the concept of Super overs was developed to force a result of tied matches, the occurrences have been rare. But it generates a lot of excitement and once again gives an equal chance to both the teams to win the match, no matter what has happened earlier. And if this happens in a tournament final, it surely becomes a treat for the spectators. In the final of Milan Corporate League T20, Kotak Mahindra edged out Mihir Trading to win by 2 wickets in the super over and lift the title.
Mihir Trading won the toss and elected to bat first. They were off to a great start with openers Shrey (45 runs, 37 balls) and Jay (14 runs, 20 balls) scoring 60 runs in 9 overs. But the turnaround happened when 3 wickets fell in the space of 2 overs, jolting Mihir’s progress. In the next 7 overs, Mihir added 48 runs without losing any further wickets. But the next turnaround was just about to happen.
In the drama that unfolded in 18th and 19th overs, next 4 wickets fell with the score static at 112. With this they also lost the chance to push the total to a competitive one and ended with just 131. Nishikant captured 4 while Premal captured 3 wickets for their team.
Chasing 132, Kotak had a bad start as both the openers were back with just 12 runs on the board. But No. 3 Ajit (51 runs, 45 balls) and No. 4 Siddharth (30 runs, 24 balls) steadied the ship by adding 59 runs for the 4th wicket. But after this partnership was broken, Mihir picked up wickets at regular intervals and kept the match hanging in balance. It was only due to a brilliant cameo by Tushar (27 runs, 16 balls) towards the end that Kotak were able to reach 131 and take the game to super over. Vishal was the pick of the bowlers for Mihir, scalping 3 wickets for just 15 runs in his 4 overs and sending one maiden.
Now both the teams had equal chance to win the game but Kotak must be cursing themselves at this stage not to pull off the game earlier. And as it turned out, Kotak held their nerve in the super over to emerge out as champions by 2 wickets. Premal captured two wickets in the super over giving away 10 runs. Kotak chased down the total on the 6th ball with a six by Siddharth, thus winning by 2 wickets.
Ajit Singh was given the awards for Man of the match and best batsman. Vishal Gajra from Mihir trading won the best bowler title. Meer Ibrahim walked away with the Man of the Series title.
Speaking with CricketGraph, let’s see what players said:
Premal from Kotak says, “It was a super nail biting finish to an evenly contested match. We are glad we held our nerve to win the title.”
Man of the Series Meer Ibrahim says, “It was my responsibility to give a good start with the bowl and thankfully I succeeded till the semi-final. Glad to take 14 wickets for my team. I big thank you to all my teammates for their support.”
Man of the Match Ajit Singh says, “It was a final in true sense and both the teams played to their potential. Fortunately for us we planned the run rate no loss of wickets in the middle overs gave us the right platform to accelerate later in the innings. Congratulations to both the teams for putting up a good show. It feels good to contribute especially when it comes at the right time and helps your team to win the final.”
Brief Scores:
Mihir Trading: 131/8 in 20 overs (Shrey 45, Darshan 26, Nishikant 4/25, Premal 3/35)
Kotak Mahindra: 131/8 in 20 overs (Ajit 51, Siddharth 30, Vishal 3/15)
Match Report by:
Sumanyu Jain
Regional manager & Editor @CricketGraph