Falcons’ Kartik Mishra clips SKY’s wings

Little-known left-arm spinner Kartik Mishra of SoBo Mumbai Falcons did what some of the high-profile bowlers in T20 cricket could not in recent times.

On Friday afternoon at the Wankhede Stadium, in what was an eagerly awaited Suryakumar Yadav versus Shreyas Iyer clash as much as it was Triumph Knights vs SoBo Mumbai Falcons, 26-year-old Mishra dismissed the former for just one. Mishra clean bowled Suryakumar as the India T20I captain tried to work him on the off side off his back foot. The ball was delivered a bit faster than the batsman expected, disturbing the off-stump.

Winning run continues

Mishra’s vital blow helped Falcons restrict Knights to 145-5. Falcons eventually chased down the target in the last over to win by four wickets and register their third successive victory, inching closer to the semi-finals in their maiden appearance.

Kartik Mishra

Suryakumar’s brilliant run, in which he scored 25 or more in each of his 18 previous outings — 16 for Mumbai Indians, followed by a 50 not out and 42 for Knights over the previous two days — came to a disappointingly quick end.

Walking in to bat in the seventh over after left-arm spinner Yash Dicholkar bowled Parikshit Valsangkar, Suryakumar took a single straightaway and missed a sweep off the first ball he faced from Mishra in the next over. Mishra, who bowled three overs in his first spell, beginning in the Powerplay, was not picked in the T20 Mumbai auction, but came in as a replacement for Nishit Balla. Had it not been for Mishra’s crucial strike, the Knights would have run away with a bigger total. Opener Sidhaant Aadhhathrao’s laborious 57 and No. 6 Suryansh Shedge’s 49 not out helped Knights achieve a competitive total.

After a relaxed outing on Thursday under Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Iyer was back at the helm. He jumped straightaway into action, pedalling backwards to take a simple catch at mid-off to dismiss Knights’s opener Jigar Rana for a seven-ball duck off Siddharth Raut in the third over.

In Falcons’s successful chase, Iyer was brought to the crease earlier than expected. Along with Raghuvanshi, Iyer shared 54 for the third wicket.

Iyer falls early

Iyer, on whom the Falcons depended a lot, fell leg before wicket for 13, getting stuck at the crease and rapped on the back leg by leg-spinner Valsangkar, the ball keeping straight. Falcons, who needed 71 in 60 balls at the fall of Iyer’s wicket, were rescued by Vinayak Bhoir (33) and Akash Parkar (30 not out).

Brief scores
TKMNE 145-5 in 20 overs (S Aadhhathrao 57, S Shedge 49*; S Raut 1-8) lost to SMF 147-6 in 19.2 overs (A Raghuvanshi 42, V Bhoir 33, A Parkar 30*; H Kadam 2-22) by 4 wickets

This article first appeared on Mid Day