IVPL: Trego, Abhishek Jhunjhunwala, Sehwag shine as Mumbai Champions beat VVIP Uttar Pradesh by 8 wickets

Greater Noida, Feb 28 (IANS) English cricketer Peter Trego starred with his all-round performance to help the Virender Sehwag-led Mumbai Champions beat VVIP Uttar Pradesh by eight wickets in the 11th match of the Indian Veteran Premier League (IVPL) at the Shaheed Vijay Singh Pathik Sports Complex, here on Wednesday. 

VVIP Uttar Pradesh made a scintillating 176/6 in the allotted 20 overs. Anshul Kapoor was the star of the show for VVIP as the batter played an extraordinary knock of 87 not out off 59 balls. Opener’s innings consisted of seven fours and four maximums.

Players like Rohit Srivastava (30 off 22 balls) and Punit Bisht (26 off 12 balls) played their part in propelling VVIP Uttar Pradesh to a strong score. For Mumbai Champions Peter Trego and Afroz Khan scalped two wickets each. While Amit Sanan and Vinay Yadav bagged one each.

Chasing the formidable total of 177, Mumbai Champions faced no big problems as they cruised to victory in 19 overs. Unbeaten knocks of Abhishek Jhunjhunwala (69* off 38 balls) and Peter Trego (41* off 29 balls) helped Mumbai in registering this win. Sehwag smashed 35 runs in 23 balls as he arrived here in Greater Noida to play in IVPL.

Opting to bat first, VVIP Uttar Pradesh made a horrendous start as they lost their opener Bhanu Seth on the third ball of the match. Misery didn’t stop there for the UP side as they lost three more wickets inside the powerplay namely Pawan Negi, skipper Suresh Raina, and Parvinder Singh. Their score after 6 overs read 31/4. Mumbai Champions bowlers Peter Trego and Afroz Khan scalped all those four wickets in six overs.

The other opener Anshul Kapoor meanwhile upped the ante in the middle overs and steadied the ship for Uttar Pradesh with a crucial partnership of 77 runs with Rohit Srivastava for the 5th wicket. This partnership was undone in the 15th over by Vinay Yadav.

In the death overs it was Punit Bisht who played a fierce knock (26 off 12 balls), laced with two boundaries and two maximums, to stitch a 48-run partnership with Anshul Kapoor for 6th wicket. The 18th over witnessed the end of a blazing innings by Punit Bisht off the bowling of Amit Sanan.

In the last two overs, the pair of Anshul Kapoor and Vinod Wilson smashed Mumbai bowlers for 20 runs to take VVIP to the score of 176.

In pursuit of 177 runs for victory, Mumbai Champions' openers, Phil Mustrad and Sehwag started in a rock-solid fashion. Champions were 45 without loss of any wicket after powerplay. After a solid 63-run opening stand, Phil Mustard was first to depart for Champions as Monu Kumar clean bowled the English opener with a beauty in the 8th over. In the very next over, Virender Sehwag perished in an unlucky scenario as Mumbai captain got run-out.

The two new batters on the crease, Abhishek Jhunjhunwala (69* off 38 balls) and Peter Trego (41* off 29 balls) steadied the ship for Mumbai Champions and stitched a match-winning unbeaten partnership of 112 runs.

Jhunjhunwala was a proper menace for Uttar Pradesh bowlers as he romped them for seven fours and 3 maximums. While Trego hit two maximums and fours each.

The duo made sure Mumbai don’t feel any more jitters in their comprehensive win in IVPL.

Following their resounding victory, Mumbai Champions are slated to face Rajasthan Legends on Friday, while VVIP Uttar Pradesh will take on Chhattisgarh Warriors on Thursday.

--IANS

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