Excelsior Sports Correspondent
JAMMU, July 23: Gritty all-rounder Soumay Jain was simply on song as he smashed medium pace bowler, Vikram over mid-wicket region for a massive six on the penultimate-ball of the match to help his team log a thrilling win over strong Simula Bulls in the ongoing Jammu and Kashmir Corporate Premier League (JKCPL) at MA Stadium, here today.
Needing 12 runs from last over with one wicket in hand, Jumbo Gladiators lower-order batsman, Soumay Jain after playing 2 consecutive dot balls, hit a boundary, couple and a six in next three deliveries to help his team script a thrilling 1-wicket victory with one ball to spare.
Earlier, winning the toss and batting first, Simula Bulls made a fighting total of 146 runs in the stipulated 20 overs, losing 6 wickets in the process. Shashi Kumar played a brilliant innings of 67 runs off 51 balls with 4 fours and 3 sixes, while Yasir made valuable 48 off 37 balls, studded with 4 boundaries and 3 sixes. Hardeep Singh also contributed 12-ball 15 runs to the total. For Jumbo Gladiators, Hiten Dalal took 2 wickets while Kuldeep Kumar and Soumay Jain claimed one wicket each.
In reply, Jumbo Gladiators powered by good knocks by Aditya Partap Singh, Puneet Kumar, Imtiyaz Malik and Soumay Jain reached the target in 19.5 overs by losing 9 wickets, thus won the match by 1 wicket. Aditya made 31 off 23 balls with 2 sixes and 2 fours, while Puneet Kumar scored power-packed 28 runs in 18 balls, studded with 2 fours and equal number of sixes. Imtiyaz contributed 38-ball 24 runs, while Hiten Dalal chipped in with 15 runs. However, the star of the show was Soumay Jain, who made unbeaten 18 off 9 balls including 2 fours and one six. For Simula Bulls, Hilal Rather and Hardeep Singh bagged 2 wickets each, while Vikram Singh scalped 3 wickets despite a bad last over. Shashi Kumar also claimed one wicket. Soumay Jain of Jumbo Gladiators was declared HDFC man of the match for his crucial knock of 18 runs and one wicket, while TCI maximum sixes award went jointly to Shashi Kumar and Yasir Ali. The awards were presented to them by Jumbo Gladiators owners Moti Lal Gupta, Sunandan Aggarwal, Kshitiz Aggarwal, Rakesh Wazir and former International umpire SK Bansal.
The match was officiated by BCCI Panel umpires Amit Bansal and Sudhir Singh, while Dheeraj and Mohsin acted as scorers.
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