T20 Mumbai: North Mumbai Panthers storm into final

Young prodigy Prithvi Shaw's 76 helped North Mumbai Panthers defeat ARCS Andheri by 2 wickets in the first semi-final of the T20 Mumbai league here Friday.

They will now face the winner of Sobo Supersonics versus Aakash Tigers Mumbai Western Suburb in the final to be played on Sunday.

Chasing 167, skipper Shaw was the cynosure of eyes at the Wankhede stadium, as he hammered 6 fours and 3 sixes in his 48 ball-knock.

He found an able partner in Swapnil Salvi (62 off 38 balls; 2x4, 5x6) as the duo conjured 114 run stand for the fourth wicket and brought their side close to the target.

Shaw, was in his usual self, and raced to his fifty in 39 balls and made optimum use of the 'lives' which he got, thanks to the sloppy fielding by the Andheri team.

However, left-arm spinner Iqbal Abdulla brought the Andheri team back into contention after removing Shaw and Sairaj Patil (0) in the 18th over, with Panthers still needing another 13 runs from 15 balls.

Pacer Tushar Deshpande conceded just two runs in the 19th over and also took a wicket of Shashikant Kadam (2).

Panthers needed 9 runs from the final over and pacer Ankur Singh sent back a well settled Salvi on the third ball of the final over.

Panthers needed seven runs from three balls, when Atif Attarwala (7) hit a six to bring down the equation to one run from two balls.

But he fell on the penultimate ball, with Panthers needing one run of the final ball.

New man Praveen Tambe (4 not out) however hit a four off the last ball to take Panthers home.

Earlier, put into bat, ARCS Andheri posted 166/6 on the board with opener Akhil Herwadkar top-scoring with 69 off 47 balls.

Herwadkar stuck six fours and two sixes.

A late cameo from Shubham Ranjane (51 not out off 34 balls) helped the ARCS to go past the 160-run mark.

For Panthers, Prathamesh Dake (3-37) was the most successful bowler.

Brief Scores: ARCS Andheri 166/6 (Akhil Herwadkar 69, Shubham Ranjane 51 not out; Pratamesh Dake 3-37) lost to North Mumbai Panthers170/8 (Prithvi Shaw 76, Swapnil Salvi 62; Tushar Deshpande 2-31) by 2 wickets.