Srinagar Ke Veer and KVN Bangalore Strikers to play eliminator on Thursday; live action on Star Sports First and Disney+Hotstar
Thane: The second season of the Indian Street Premier League (ISPL) has finally reached its business end with the top four teams from the league stages gearing up for the knockouts, that starts with the first qualifier between table toppers Majhi Mumbai and second-placed Falcon Risers Hyderabad at the Dadoji Kondadev Stadium here on Wednesday.
Srinagar Ke Veer and KVN Bangalore Strikers are the two other teams to have made their way into the top four stages.
Having finished the inaugural ISPL season as the runners-up, Majhi Mumbai appeared to have approached the second season with a mission to complete unfinished business, and enjoyed a flawless run in their first eight games before a minor blip in the ninth, saw them going down to Srinagar Ke Veer. The Mumbai outfit, however, managed to get their act together in the final league stage game to eventually finish on top of the points table with nine wins out of their 10 games.
Mumbai’s march to the top of the table has been a result of collective effort from the likes of Rajat Mundhe, who finished the league stage as the second-highest run-getter with 251 runs to his name, and the pair of Abhishek Kumar Dalhor and Ankur Singh, finding themselves in the 1-2 position among the highest wicket-takers, with 19 and 15 scalps, respectively.
The trio will be expected to play a key role in the first qualifier as the winner between Majhi Mumbai and Falcon Risers Hyderabad will earn a direct ticket to the final.
Meanwhile, for the Hyderabad outfit, that has blown hot and cold through the season, and eventually ended the league stage with six wins from 10 games, the onus will be on star opener Kisan Satpute to bring his A game into play. Among their bowlers, Vicky Bhoir ended the league stage on the third place with 13 scalps, while Parveen Kumar’s 12 wickets kept them at the fifth spot.
Following the first qualifier, Srinagar and Bangalore will lock horns in the Eliminator on Thursday, with the winner taking on the loser of the first qualifier, in the second qualifier, scheduled for Friday.
All eyes will be on the in-form Sagar Ali, who has been instrumental in guiding the Srinagar side to the top four after finishing the league stage as the highest run-getter, notching up 372 runs, with a highest score of 52. Sahil Longale has been another consistent force with the ball for the Srinagar side, that finished third with five wins from 10 outings. Sahil has so far amassed 12 scalps to find himself on the fourth spot among the highest wicket-takers.
KVN Bangalore Strikers narrowly managed to make it to the top four, despite being the most inconsistent of all the other sides. While none of their batters or bowlers found themselves among the top five performers in the league stages, they will bank on the duo of Krushna Pawar and Irfan Patel to see them through to the second qualifier.
