Gurgaon Super Kings 181/9 in 30 overs (Ashmit 40, Yuvraj 25, Mansher 2/16) lost to Charging Cheetahs 182/2 in 26.2 overs (Jasraj 52, Mansher 33, Kartikeya 1/15) by 8 wickets.
The Pushers premier Legaue, in order to provide enough opportunity to the players, came up with this unique idea. A month long carnivals witnessed some of the most talented Cricketers across the city of Gurgaon , go up against the sticking heat to fight it out for the glorious trophy. The Gurgaon Super Kings and Charging Cheetahs were ranked 2nd and 4th at the end of the league phase. In fact, with a run rate of -0.007 the Cheetahs just qualified by beating Delhi Scorchers in what we can call a virtual pre quarterfinal.
A 6 PM start at the Pushers den, in the city of Gurgaon ensured that both the teams had some respite from the heat, but on the field, the atmosphere can change pretty quickly. Winning the toss Cheetahs elected to field first. The Super Kings opening pair who had a decent tournament got them off to flying start. While Aryaman took the bowlers apart through the cover region, Aahil was following a defensive approach. As the Super kings looked like moving towards a towering total, Sumeher removed Aryaman to open up the things for the Cheetahs.
After a lightning start, Super kings lost their way and lost their top order within 9 overs. They needed a partnership desperately to stay in the contest with 72/4 in the 10th over and the responsibility was taken care of by Ashmit (40) and Yuvraj (25). The pair added 59 in next 10 overs and prepared a launch pad for the lower order sluggers. With 10 overs remaining in their quota and few designated hitters in their dugout, Super kings fancied a target of 220 plus in the 20th over of innings. Unfortunately, once Yuvraj got out, none of the Super kings batsmen could accelerate the inning. They lost wickets in clutters and were restricted to a modest 182.
Chasing over 6 an over is always a tough job especially in a final. If you go through the leading run scorers of the tournament, you will find none of the Cheetahs in top 5. But if you browse further, 4 out of top ten are the Cheetahs. This is the evidence of the kind of a team work that ensured a place in the final for the Cheetahs.
Both the Cheetah openers started steadily. Avoiding any unnecessary risk, they kept on pushing the scoreboard with singles and doubles while sending poor deliveries out of the park. The Kings XI bowlers managed to nip out Manishankar in the 10th over but they failed to replicate the precision shown by the Cheetah bowlers. Jasraj (52) and Aditya (41) finished the game with 22 balls remaining as they added 85 runs for 4th wicket in just 64 balls.
