ISPL season 2: KVN Bangalore Strikers, Tiigers of Kolkata register crucial wins

Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], February 8 (ANI): KVN Bangalore Strikers gave themselves a much-needed lift in the points tally by registering their fourth victory of the Indian Street Premier League (ISPL), season 2, to rise to the fourth spot and keep themselves in contention for a place in the play-offs.
The win tasted even sweeter for the Bangalore outfit as they displayed their might in the presence of team owner and Bollywood star Hrithik Roshan, who graced the occasion at the Dadoji Kondadev Stadium here on Saturday, as per an ISPL press release.
Earlier, Tiigers of Kolkata dominated with both bat and ball to overpower Chennai Singams by a massive margin of nine wickets in another encounter at the same venue.
Majhi Mumbai, Falcon Risers Hyderabad and Srinagar Ke Veer have already confirmed their place in the play-offs of the ISPL.
Meanwhile, in between the matches, popular singer Juggy D set the stage on fire with his electrifying performance, setting the perfect vibe for an unforgettable weekend.
Chasing a target of 66 runs, the Tiigers broke little sweat as they recovered from the early dismissal of opener Sarfraz Khan to chase down the required runs with four overs to spare. Opener and skipper Thomas Dias led from the front, by top-scoring with a hurricane innings of 30 runs off 16 balls while Fardeen Kazi scored an undefeated 23 off 15.
Earlier, electing to field first, Kolkata were well served by their disciplined bowling attack, who kept up the pressure on the Chennai batters. Shivam Kumar emerged the most successful bowler for the Tiigers, returning figures of 4/12.
The Chennai innings never really settled down as they lost wickets at regular intervals.
Sumeet Dhekale managed to push the Chennai total towards respectability with a knock of 31 runs off 17 balls as the Singams finished on 65/7.
Saturday's loss delayed Chennai's march to the play-offs, and they now find themselves in a must-win position in their final league stage match to make it to the last four stages.
Put in to bat, KVN Bangalore Strikers unleashed carnage at the Dadoji Kondadev Stadium, to pile up the season's highest total of 129/6. The mighty total was a collective effort from Krushna Pawar, Sanjay Kanojjiya and the late fireworks from Ashiq Ali Shamsu. Languishing at the penultimate spot in the points tally, Bangalore got off to a rather ordinary start before Krushna and Sanjay changed the momentum with an exquisite display of power-hitting, to take the side to the mammoth score.
Coming in to bat at No.6, Krushna took the attack back to the opposition, and launched four mighty sixes and an identical number of boundaries to fire a 13-ball 44. Krushna got the perfect partner in Sanjay, whose 11-ball 33, laced with three fours and as many sixes, propelled the side past the three-figure mark. Towards the end, Ashiq's 2-ball 10, powered by a four and a six, took Bangalore to the record score.
In response, Falcon Risers Hyderabad were off to a forgettable start, losing their star opener Kisan Satpute for a duck, and the rest of the batting almost derailed before Prabjot Singh's 21-ball 30, laced with three sixes and a four, raised some hopes for Hyderabad. But Singh's departure in the 50-50 over, left the team in total disarray and were eventually restricted to 95/9. (ANI)