Iyer chills while Falcons thrill!

In less than 48 hours after finishing second best to Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the IPL final at Ahmedabad, Punjab Kings captain Shreyas Iyer was on the field and seemed relaxed, representing SoBo Mumbai Falcons (SMF) during their nine-wicket win over North Mumbai Panthers (NMP) in a T20 Mumbai League (TML) match at the DY Patil Stadium here on Thursday.

Iyer, the guide

Originally slated to lead SoBo Mumbai Falcons, one of the two new entrants to the TML, Iyer was happy to play under upcoming batsman and birthday boy Angkrish Raghuvanshi, who impressed for Kolkata Knight Riders recently. Iyer even readily guided Raghuvanshi whenever approached.

Sobo Mumbai Falcons players celebrate a North Mumbai Panthers wicket yesterday

In the first over, bowled by medium-pacer Siddharth Raut (4-14), after North Mumbai Panthers captain and right-hander Prithvi Shaw took a single, Raghuvanshi was seen jogging towards Iyer at mid-on to confirm the fielding positions as things had to be adjusted for the left-handed Harsh Rane.

Iyer was largely manning the mid-off and mid-on regions before stationing himself at short fine-leg and later at long-off after half the Panthers batsmen were back in the dugout for 67. This included a 47-run stand for the fifth wicket between Divyansh Saxena (23) and top-scorer Gaurav Jathar (34).

Iyer, still coming to terms with the fact that he and his batsmen failed to chase an achievable 191 at the Narendra Modi Stadium on Tuesday night, hardly had anything to do on the field and was seen exhibiting his football skills when the ball was relayed to him at mid-off during an over.

Smooth chase

Iyer, 30, retreated to the dressing room with less than two overs left in the Panthers’s innings and was not required to come out to bat.

Falcons, though lost Raghuvanshi in the first over of their pursuit, before achieving the 133-run target with nine wickets in hand. Impact substitute Ishan Mulchandani (61 not out, 25b, 7×4, 4×6) and No. 3 Harsh Aghav (64 not out, 40b, ox4, 4×6) raced to their respective half-centuries as the Falcons hurried to victory with 8.1 overs to spare. 

Brief scores
NMP 132-8 in 20 overs (G Jathar 34; S Raut 4-14, N Giri 2-35) lost to SMF 135-1 in 11.5 overs (H Aghav 64*, I Mulchandani 61*) by 9 wickets

This article first appeared on Mid Day