KOCHI: Riding on an explosive 75 off 63 balls by Rajiv Pillai, Kerala Strikers trounced Mumbai Heroes by 10 wickets to register their first win in the Celebrity Cricket League (CCL), on Sunday. Back after their one-wicket loss to Chennai Rhinos at Hyderabad on Saturday in a nail-biting encounter, the home team did not disappoint the near-capacity crowd of 50,000 at the Jawaharlal Nehru International Stadium.Chasing 129, Rajiv Pillai and his opening parter Nivin Pauly (16 off 38 balls) helped Strikers romp home in just 16.5 overs.The team launched their chase on a blistering pace by scoring 50 in just 7.3 overs with Rajiv doing the bulk of the scoring while Pauly played second fiddle to his hard-hitting companion by rotating strike. Man-of-the-match Pillai’s blitzkrieg innings was studded with eight boundaries. Mumbai bowlers made Strikers’ task easier by bowling 38 extras.The entire Kerala team, led by Mohanlal, ran towards the ground when Pillai scored the winning run. Earlier, Mumbai Heroes skipper Suneil Shetty won the toss and decided to bat first and the Bollywood team started off well with openers Sunny Singh and Badola adding 29 runs in just 3.5 overs. But a brilliant effort by Bineesh Kodiyeri saw Singh getting run out. It was the turn of Unni Mukundan then. Unni struck twice with the ball by trapping Bhelwani and Aftab leg before the wicket.Mumbai were at 51 for 3 and lost wickets at regular intervals to reach 109 for six after 18 overs. The Stadium was rocked with applause when Mohanlal came to bowl the 19th over. But, the actor disappointed his fans by conceding 14 runs in that over. The first ball he bowled was hit by Joshy for a boundary and two wides followed. But the real moment for the audience to cheer came in the fourth ball when Joshy played the Mohanlal delivery to the mid-wicket, giving an easy catching chance for Indrajith, but he fumbled the chance much to the disappointment of the audience.Bineesh Kodiyeri took three wickets in the last over to restrict the Mumbai team to 128 for 9.In the Mumbai innings, the 29 runs conceded by Kerala bowlers as extras was the top-scorer while heroes’ batsman Badola came second with 27 runs off 34 balls. Bineesh was the pick of the Kerala bowlers by grabbing 4 wickets for 18 runs.Earlier, thousands of fans occupied the stadium hours before the start of the match. They waited patiently till the end of the match between Bengal Tigers and Chennai Rhinos to see their favourite stars in action.Finally, the Strikers team entered the Ground by 5.30 pm for a brief practice session and the stadium erupted with thunderous cheers.The presence of actor Mammootty increased the excitement of the spectators. The actor also rose to the occasion by cheering the Kerala team and frequently waving to the audience. Cine stars Prithviraj, Bhavana, Lakshmi Rai and Siddique were also present to cheer the Strikers. Bengal Tigers Defeat Chennai RhinosBengal Tigers defeated Chennai Rhinos by eight wickets in the sixth match of the Celebrity Cricket League (CCL) held at the Jawaharlal Nehru International Stadium here on Sunday. Chennai Rhinos, which won the toss, chose to bat first and scored 130 runs for the loss of eight wickets in 20 overs. In reply, Bengal Tigers scored 133 runs, losing just two wickets. Bengal Tigers’ player Saugata, who scalped four wickets of the Chennai Rhinos, was chosen the ‘Man of the Match’ for his match-winning performance. Bengal Tigers’ player Joy emerged the top-scorer with 52 runs. Among Chennai Rhinos players, Shantanoo was the highest scorer the highest runs with 36 runs.The match was evenly poised till the final four overs. However, after the sixteenth over, Bengal Tigers took the charge and brought the match in their favour. With this victory, Bengal Tigers gained two points.
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