Tare stars as Mumbai pip Kerala by 6 wickets

In the second match of the Super League Group A at the Wankhede Stadium in Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2015-16, Kerala showed glimpses of brilliance but Mumbai were better on the day and cruised to a six-wicket win on Friday (January 15) to start their second round on a positive note after a topsy-turvy first round.

Chasing 161, Akhil Herwadkar (6) and Shreyas Iyer (5), the Mumbai openers, were nipped out with just 21 runs on the board in the first three overs.

With a steep chase ahead, Aditya Tare (71) and Siddesh Lad tried to resurrect the innings with a 70-run stand. With one match already played on the same track, the pitch understandably slowed down and the ball stopped a bit to make run-scoring difficult. However, to their credit, the feature of their partnership was how they kept the singles coming.

Lad, trying to attack, was caught by Vinoop Manoharan off Basil Thampi after a 31-ball 36. Mumbai were still 70 runs adrift from winning the match and had just 47 balls to do it.

But with Tare going well from one end and with Abhishek Nayar walking in at No. 5, the hosts were still in the contest. Tare is a confident individual and has established the fact that he can clear the boundary with ease. However, with wickets falling from the other end, the Mumbai captain decided to play through and curbed his attacking instincts initially before putting the foot on the accelerator towards the end.

Tare was caught behind in the 17th over trying to pull a short ball from Manu Krishnan with Mumbai still 22 runs shy. Even though Kerala got the crucial wicket, Tare had ensured that Mumbai walk away with four points.

Earlier, Kerala didn't get off to a promising start but contributions from Sanju Samson (22), Rohan Prem (69) and Sachin Baby (32) meant the bowlers had something to work with.

Mohammed Azharuddeen pushed and poked for seven deliveries but failed to open his account before Shradul Thakur had him caught by Suryakumar Yadav in the second over. From the other end, Samson looked in good touch but more often than not found the fielder.

He collaborated with Sachin to add 57 runs for the second wicket to ensure there were no more early inroads for the Mumbai bowlers. Even after Samson fell after his 24-ball stay, Sachin took the onus upon himself to guide the team to a fighting total.

It was crucial not to go full throttle from the very beginning and Sachin took his time before attacking Pravin Tambe and Sagar Trivedi. However, the onslaught didn't last long and Sachin lost his off stump to Trivedi. The Kerala captain, trying to play a lap past shot fine-leg, moved too far across and saw his off stump go cartwheeling back.

If Mumbai managed to get crucial breakthroughs, it was clear from Tare's reaction that the bowlers had failed to execute the plans. The Mumbai captain didn't hide his disappointment but fortunately for Mumbai, Kerala lost the plot from there and collapsed from 114 for 3 to 156 for 7.

Brief scores: Kerala 160 for 7 in 20 overs (Rohan Prem 69; Sagar Trivedi 3-34) lost to Mumbai 164 for 4 in 19.1 overs (Aditya Tare 71; Manu Krishnan 2-36) by six wickets.