T20 Mumbai League: Triumph Knights' Parkar pens close win vs Bandra Blasters

Triump Knights' Akash Parkar (rights) celebrates his side's win after hitting a six off the last ball against NaMo Bandra Blasters in the T20 Mumbai League at the Wankhede yesterday. Pic/Suresh Karkera

It was always going to be a close finish with Triumph Knights (TK) needing 44 to win in the last two overs and all-rounder Akash Parkar scripted a beautiful tale yesterday at the Wankhede Stadium to guide his side to a thrilling five-wicket win over NaMo Bandra Blasters in the T20 Mumbai League.

Parkar, who was unable to bowl due to an elbow injury on his right hand, made it count with the willow, scoring an unbeaten 39 off just 18 balls, an innings that was laced with two hits to the fence and six sixes, including one off the last ball. The win took TK to the top of the six-team table with six points.

Parkar goes airborne
Chasing a stiff target of 184, Parkar smashed pacer Azhar Ansari for two sixes and two fours in the penultimate over. TK now needed 21 off the last over. Parkar's partner, Vinayak Bhoir (19 not out off eight balls) sent pacer Prashant Bhoir over the long on fence in the first two deliveries. On the third and fourth delivery, he scored two and one respectively.

Parkar dispatched the ball over long on to finish the match in style. "I had the belief that if I manage to connect the ball, then the bowler would come under pressure and that's what happened. I was confident with Vinayak because we had won matches for our teams. Overall, it was a team effort," Parkar said.

Earlier, after being asked to bat, the Blasters scored 183 for five after 20 overs, riding on half-centuries from skipper Shreyas Iyer and Aman Khan.

Blasters' key partnership
The duo stitched 127 runs for the second wicket in just 87 balls. Iyer was disappointed with his bowling department. "I thought we would win because they weren't hitting too much at the start. Once they went for the big shots, our bowlers began panicking. This is unacceptable especially if the bowlers are not planning to bowl according to the captain's plan,"," Iyer said.