Challengers fight back from the brink
Chargers 123/1620.0 overs
14 October 2026 · Highcrest Academy
Challengers 124/1019.1 overs
Seven players. Ten costly wickets. And a chase going nowhere. Challengers had plenty stacked against them at Highcrest Academy on Wednesday, but they still found a way! From 55 for ten after the paired overs, Mohan and Prem produced an unbeaten 69 to beat Chargers with five balls remaining. A depleted side had delivered a stirring comeback.
Key absences left Challengers with seven against Chargers' eleven. Their response began with the ball: Abhijit Thuse claimed four wickets and Dev three in a valuable three-over spell. Ashish B supplied two catches and three run-outs, making precious opportunities count for a side short of numbers.
Chargers found useful contributions from Thanvilin Thattakath, with 24 net runs, Sanju with 20 and Bibin with 16. An additional 37 extras helped, but sixteen wickets brought expensive deductions. Their 123 offered Challengers an opening. Chargers' bowlers were about to make that target look much bigger!
Mohan and Dev reached ten before a catch from the opening over's final delivery reduced the score to seven. The last three balls of the second over brought a brutal sequence: Dev bowled, Mohan caught, Dev run out. Twelve deliveries gone, just two runs on the board!
The setbacks kept coming. Ashish suffered three dismissals, and Challengers were 19 after six overs and 25 after eight. Sixes from Abhijit and Jitesh provided sparks, but Chargers kept taking wickets. At the end of twelve paired overs, Challengers were 55 for ten. Thirty runs had disappeared in penalties. They needed 69 from 48 balls.
Mohan and Prem changed the tempo immediately. Fifteen from their first over together lifted the total to 70. The wall-and-single option, regular scoring and the extras available began to pull Chargers back. After spending much of the innings surrendering progress, Challengers finally had a partnership that could hold its ground.
Neither batter hit a four or a six! Mohan finished with 46 gross runs and 40 net from 37 balls; Prem contributed 30 from 29 without a run deduction. Their controlled accumulation transformed the chase. At 96 after sixteen overs, the match was tightening. At 114 after eighteen, only ten were needed from twelve balls.
There was still a twist. Prem was caught twice during the Power Over, but those recorded dismissals carried no team-run deduction under its conditions. Challengers paused at 118 before two further twos took them to 122. Two needed from the last over. Mohan settled it from the first delivery with a wall-and-single!
Chargers had made this a proper battle. Sudeep took three wickets, Thanvilin two, and Sumal contributed two run-outs. Their pressure had forced the chasing side into repeated trouble. Yet Challengers kept the contest alive until Mohan and Prem could turn it. A seven-player effort, a remarkable recovery and a partnership that made every available run count. What a way to win!
Rajesh delivers a dream finish for Smashers
Strikers 182/1320.0 overs
15 October 2026 · Highcrest Academy
Smashers 184/820.0 overs
Five needed. One ball left. Rajesh on strike. Smashers had just suffered a controversial run-out, turning two needed from two deliveries into five from the last. Was victory slipping away? Rajesh answered with SIX! Smashers reached 184 for eight to beat Strikers' 182, completing a chase packed with extraordinary twists.
They had done it without their star player. With seven players against Strikers' ten, Smashers arrived at Highcrest Academy facing a serious challenge. The missing firepower and smaller group made them underdogs. They needed others to step forward, and Thursday's thriller produced contributions right across the side.
Strikers set the pace. Sathyan Mohan took twenty from the opening over and finished with 24 net runs. Sundar added 31, Awaiz Usman 19 and John 15, while Pranay struck 18 from seven balls. Dhana and Rajesh claimed three wickets apiece, with Abhilash Anand adding two. Even with those deductions, Strikers reached a formidable 182 for thirteen, helped by 38 extras.
Smashers were 77 after nine overs before Abhilash and Srivatsan began to change the picture. Their partnership took the score to 121 after thirteen. Then Abhilash attacked the Power Over: six, four, six from consecutive deliveries! Twenty from the over lifted Smashers to 141 and brought the target into reach.
Abhilash's 48 net from 25 balls supplied the acceleration; Srivatsan's 34 net from 37 provided vital support. But Awaiz dismissed Abhilash from the seventeenth over's final ball, reducing the total to 161. Navin then removed Srivatsan and bowled Rohit Srivastava from consecutive deliveries at the end of the eighteenth. Smashers were still on 161. Twenty-two needed from twelve!
Rajendra Babu and Sam kept them alive with eleven from the nineteenth over. Eleven more were needed from the last. Rajendra hit the opening delivery for six, and it was a no-ball! Eight runs added, no legal ball used, and Smashers were suddenly on 180. Three needed with the whole over available. Surely this was their moment?
Navin had other ideas. Two dots tightened the contest before he caught Rajendra off his own bowling. The wicket deduction dragged Smashers back to 177. A wide and a wall-and-single from Dhana lifted them to 181. Two needed from two. The finish line was tantalisingly close.
Then came the controversy. Sam was given run out from the penultimate delivery, with Bijoy credited in the field. It could scarcely have arrived at a worse moment for Smashers. Their second wicket of the over brought another three-run penalty, leaving them on 178. Now they needed five from one.
Rajesh hit six. One stroke settled a contest that had refused to stay settled! Navin's four wickets and Strikers' fierce defence deserved enormous credit, but Smashers had found the resolve to keep answering. Abhilash and Srivatsan built the opportunity; Rajendra and Sam sustained it. Rajesh supplied the unforgettable finish. Without their star, battered by late setbacks, Smashers had still prevailed. The stuff of dreams!