Domestic giants Mumbai continued its winning run in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy thrashing Madhya Pradesh by nine wickets on Monday.
This is Mumbai’s third win on the trot after they beat Mizoram and Haryana in the first two league games of Group D in the national T20 tournament.
In the game at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai rode on blistering half centuries by openers Jay Bista (68 off 36 balls) and Aditya Tare (74 not out off 48 balls) to chase the 160-run target with ease.
Electing to bat, Madhya Pradesh had a horrendous start with their opener Ashutosh Sharma being run out on a zero on the first ball of the innings.
Skipper Naman Ojha (22 off 17 balls) and one down Rajat Patidar (25 off 17 balls) tried to steady the ship with a 39-run stand for the second wicket.
When Ojha, who hit three fours and a six, appeared to take his side ahead, left-arm spinner Shams Mulani cleaned him up.
Two down Parth Sahani made a quick fire 47 off 36 balls, hitting three fours and two sixes, before being bowled by medium-pacer Shubham Ranjane.
Both Patidar and Sahani failed to convert their starts as MP were reeling at 108 for 4.
An unbeaten 31 off 29 balls from Anand Bais and 19- ball 24 from Venkatesh Iyer helped MP breach the 150-run mark.
For the hosts, Shams Mulani (1-17), Ranjane (1-24), Sujit Nayak (1-26) and Tushar Deshpande (1-34) were among the wickets.
Chasing 160, Bista and Tare laid the foundation stone of the win with an 111-run stand for the opening wicket.
The duo took a listless MP attack to the cleaners with Bista the more aggressive of the two.
While Bista smashed seven fours and four sixes, Tare hit 10 boundaries and two other hits over the fence.
They took the game away from MP as Bista played round the park.
After Bista was dismissed by Kuldeep Sen, Tare took the onus on himself to complete the match.
He in the company of in-form skipper Suryakumar Yadav (20 not out off 11 balls) took the side home with 4.1 overs to spare.
In the earlier game at Wankhede, Bengal defeated Meghalaya by 55 runs.
Asked to bat first, Bengal piled up 207/4 in their 20 overs courtesy half centuries by opener Vivek Singh (57) and Abhimayu Easwaran (61), who toyed with the Meghalaya attack.
Bengal bowlers Ishan Porel (2-22) and Arnab Nandi (2- 24) shared the spoils as their team registered a comfortable victory.
Meanwhile, in the first game at BKC, Puducherry eked out a 31-run win against Mizoram.
A gritty unbeaten 76 by opener Taruwar Kohli went in vain as Puducherry bowlers dished out a clinical show to restrict 124/4, well short of their target.
In the day’s second game at BKC, India spinner Yuzvendra Chahal joined the Haryana squad but was rested for the game against Assam.
Haryana rode on half century by opener Harshal Patel (62) to register a three wicket win against Assam.
Brief Scores: Madhya Pradesh 159/5 (Parth Sahani 47, Anand Bais 31 not out; Shams Mulani 1-17)lost to Mumbai 165/1 (Aditya Tare 74 not out, Jay Bista 68; Kuldeep Sen 1-29) by nine wickets.
At Wankhede: Bengal 207/4 (Abhimanyu Easwaran 61, Vivek Singh 57; Abhay Negi 2-31) beat Meghalaya 153/4 (Sanjay Yadav 45 not out, Mark Ingty 39 not out; Ishan Porel 2-22) by 55 runs.
At BKC: Puducherry 155/7 (Anand Subramanian 42, Rohit Damodaran 39; Su Mit Lama 3-25) beat Mizoram 124/4 (Taruvar Kohli 76 not out, Pawan Prasad 26; Ashith Sanganakal 2-25) by 31 runs.
At BKC: Assam 158/8 (Riyan Parag 58, Pallav Kumar Das 43; Amit Mishra 2-23) lost to Haryana 159/7 (Harshal Patel 62, Chaityana Bishnoi 32; Pritam Kumar Das 2-25) by three wickets.
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