So, that also brings an end to our coverage of this game between Puneri Bappa and Chhatrapati Sambhaji Kings. Do join us tomorrow for the last two league games of MPL 2024. For now, this is me Hiren Kumar singing off on behalf of my co-commentators Ayan Chatterjee, Sourmaya Dutta and scorer/analyst Ashok Dayma. CHEERS!!
Ruturaj Gaikwad (Puneri Bappa Captain): "Everyone played with freedom and that worked in our favor. I did not anything about him (Rohan Kharat) but he is a great player. To be honest, I have been keeping for a while. Ghosh is a very talented player. He did not have a great start to the tournament but i am glad the he has came back and performed. It is a biggest platform for youngsters. I told our team to perform at their best irrespective of the results. Thank you."
Rohan Kharat (Puneri Bappa) - " When my skipper told me that I was playing I felt good and wasn't nervous. I tried to pitch the ball in the right areas and stick to my game plan. "
Player of the Match: Rohan Kharat.
Time for the presentations.
Murtaza Trunkwala (CSK Captain): "I think too many bad days and bad execution in all aspects and left it to luck. Very disappointing and left it to luck today. Not really. The pitch was tricky but not 99 pitch. PB bowled really well and had good plans ready for us. We could have rotated strike better and take the risks and PB bowled well and deserved the win. The bowlers tried having 99 on the board is not ideal. We had to take the game deep and see and hope Raigad Royals lose tomorrow. We have left it to chance."
22:04 IST and Local Time: Puneri Bappa win by 8 wickets. A comprehensive win for PB. They were clinical with both bat and ball. CSK will now have to depend on others to confirm their place in the top 4.
Opting to bowl first, Puneri Bappa bowlers were spot on tonight and bundled out CSK for just 99 runs. Sachin Bhosale was the pick of the bowlers for them and ended with the figures of 4/9 in his 3-over spell. Vivek Shelar and Roshan Kharat were also impressive and picked up 3 wickets each.
Coming to the chase, 100 was never going to be easy to defend for the CSK bowlers and it was a walk in the park kind of a chase for Puneri Bappa. Rajvardhan Hangergaker and Kazi did pick up a wicket each but that did not help them enough. Ramakrishnan Ghosh was the top scorer for PB and scored 35 off 35.
CSK needed to win this one but will now have to depend on tomorrow's result to confirm their place in the playoffs. Puneri Bappa are already eliminated and still have a game left which is scheduled tomorrow.
6 SIX! Tosses it up fuller and in the slot, Kshirsagar uses his feet and lofts it down the ground over long-on as the ball sails over the stands for the maximum to bring up the 100 for Puneri Bappa and end the game as well. So, a consolation win for Puneri Bappa by 8 wickets with 32 balls to spare. They are out of the tournament but are ending it on a high.
14.3 S Kazi to S Shinde
1 Good length on the pads, Shinde tucks it away for a single to the midwicket region.
14.2 S Kazi to S Shinde
4 FOUR! Fuller length on the pads, Shinde plays the sweep shot through the midwicket region as the ball races away to the fence for a boundary.
14.1 S Kazi to S Shinde
0 Good length around off, Shinde defends it back to the mid-on fielder.
OVER 14
Puneri Bappa
91/2
Yash Kshirsagar
23(23)
Suraj Shinde
13(10)
Hitesh Valunj
0-16(3.0)
13.6 H Valunj to Y Kshirsagar
4 FOUR! Fuller length outside off, Kshirsagar plays the reverse sweep past the slip fielder and away it goes to the third man fence for a boundary.
13.5 H Valunj to S Shinde
1 Fuller length around off, Shinde drives it down to long-off for a single.
13.4 H Valunj to Y Kshirsagar
1 Fuller length around off, Kshirsagar squirts it away to the point region for a single.
13.3 H Valunj to Y Kshirsagar
0 Flighted outside off, Kshirsagar makes room to carve it away and misses to the keeper.
13.2 H Valunj to Y Kshirsagar
0 Fuller length around off, Kshirsagar squirts it to the point region.
13.1 H Valunj to S Shinde
1 Fuller length around off, Shinde eases it down to long-off for a single.