CCL2026: Bengal Tigers deny Mumbai Heroes a win with a scintillating chase

CCL2026: In the third match of the Celebrity Cricket League Season 12, 2024 champions Bengal Tigers, denied the Mumbai Heroes a chance of a win, chasing down a total of 200.

CCL2026 Match 3: Jammy's knock played a major part in the Bengal Tigers' win over the Mumbai Heroes

On day 1 of CCL2026, both the matches went in favour of the teams that batted first. Interestingly, both had been sent in to bat by the teams that won the toss. In the first match of Day 2, Riteish Deshmukh won the toss and chose to send his team in and set a total for the Bengal Tigers to chase, perhaps buoyed by the track record of Day 1. 199 definitely seemed like a big ask, and the Tigers did not have an easy chase, what with the Heroes trying every trick in the book to rein them in. In the end, the Tigers showed the Heroes why they are one of the best teams in the tournament.

Did the decision to bat first backfire for the Mumbai Heroes?

Saqib Saleem and Shabbir Ahluwalia opened the batting and came with an agenda – make the most of the Power Play overs. Shabbir did the big hitting from the very start, Saqib took the backseat to support him. The duo was cruising along nicely, but then the partnership was cut short when Saqib departed at 17 and the team score just shy of 50.

Also read: CCL 2026: Karnataka Bulldozers outplay defending champions Punjab De Sher

Unperturbed, Shabbir went about making merry of the Bengal Tiger bowlers, especially Joy, but then fell to one of his full toss deliveries that he didn’t quite middle. The score now, 96-2, 57 of which belonged to Shabbir. The 100 came at the half-way mark, setting up hope of a total upward of 200+. In the next 4 overs, though, the Tigers got more aggressive; they gave away 40 runs, but also got rid of 4 more of the Heroes’ batsmen.

With skipper Ritesh for company, Navdeep Tomar kept up the pressure on the Tigers, with some big hits to and over the boundary. He remained unbeaten on 43 of only 23 balls, which helped the Heroes get to a formidable total of 199-6.

Bengal Tigers stumble, but then make it past the finish line in style

On Day 1 of CCL, the Karnataka Bulldozers and the Bhojpuri Dabanggs were able to defend scores of 170 and 155 respectively, so a 200-run chase was going to be big ask. It didn’t take the Heroes long to draw first blood, getting rid of Joy Mukherjee, with the score on 15 in the 3rdover, when the ask was over 10 runs an over. The bowling line and length remained aggressive and with each passing ball, the equation began to look increasingly difficult for the Tigers, even with Jammy at the crease.

By the 6th over, the Tigers had lost 2 more wickets and only 26 runs in their kitty. But then Jammy and skipper Jisshu began rebuilding the innings. Their partnership almost ended when Jammy’s mistimed hit went straight to Shabbir, but the latter dropped it, giving the batsman another life. His response to that was a 6 in the very next ball, which took their partnership to 50. Unfortunately for Jammy, he lost the skipper soon enough; the score, 77-4 in 10 overs.

But just when it began to look as if the match was slipping away from the Tigers, Jammy took over and from his bat flew a flurry of shots to and beyond the boundary. After 16 overs, the team was at 163 for 5, and Jammy a little shy of a century. Riteish then came back into the attack and first almost got Rahul, who was dropped, only to then send Jammy back; this time Shabbir held on. For a moment it seemed that the Tigers may just fall short. But that was not to be and just when Rahul equalled the scores, a costly overthrow from the Heroes ended the match with an over to spare.

Also read: CCL2026: Asgar Khan and Manoj Tiwari lead Bhojpuri Dabanggs to victory over the Telugu Warriors

CCL2026 are streaming live on JioHotstar (available via OTTplay Premium also). Up next, the defending champions, Punjab De Sher, who were trounced by the Karnataka Bulldozers, take on the Telugu Warriors, also a team that is already one match down and desperate for a win.

CCL FAQs

Q. When is Season 12 of CCL starting?

A. Season 12 of the Celebrity Cricket League begins on January 16, 2026. Eight teams are in the fray, with the winner getting a prize of Rs 50L.

Q. Which team is the defending champions of CCL?

A. Punjab De Sher is the reigning champions of CCL.

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