CCL 2025 Day 2: Match 4 Bhojpuri Dabanggs get the better of Mumbai Heroes in high-scoring contest

The last match on Day 2 of the first weekend of CCL 2025 had a late start, with the Mumbai Heroes and Bhojpuri Dabanggs taking the field well past 7.30 pm. This also meant that the match went on well past midnight. Four innings of 3-digit scores and a final chase that ended with 4 overs to spare, the Mumbai Heroes vs Bhojpuri Dabanggs match saw some high-octane cricket display. 

Mumbai Heroes vs Bhojpuri Dabanggs: Very high-scoring first innings by both teams

Manoj Tiwari won the toss and chose to field first; the hope he said was to restrict the Mumbai Heroes to the least possible score. Saqib Saleem and Rajeev Pillai came with other plans and put on 51 runs for the opening partnership. Then, they lost Rajeev, and shortly after Sharad Kelkar and Saqib too, and at one point, Sidhanth Muley retired hurt, only to return to the crease and stabilize the team, along with Shabir Ahluwalia. Despite the setbacks and the fairly tight bowling, they managed a run-rate of 10 an over for the most part of the innings. Sidhanth stayed steady even after Shabbir left and then unleashed himself on the Dabanggs clobbering 26 runs from the final over, before getting run out with one ball to go in the innings. 125 for 7 is what the Mumbai Heroes ended with eventually.

Also read: CCL 2025: Day 2 - Match 3 Bengal Tigers record second straight victory; make quick work of Punjab De Sher 

Getting to 125 or more in 10 overs, is a tall order, but the Dabanggs remained unperturbed in the face of this daunting task. In response, at halfway stage, the Dabanggs were at 78 for the loss of 2 and well on course to get to the target comfortably. The two batsmen at the crease Aditya Ojha and Asgar Khan brought the team within touching distance of the score in the next over itself – the score now, 102-2. Asgar, in particular, was on fire, and made the Mumbai Heroes regret dropping a catch early on. At 7.5 overs, the Dabanggs had surpassed the target, following a beautiful 4 from Asgar. His 105-run partnership with Aditya was broken only in the last over, when the latter was caught out. Asgar remained unbeaten on 96, after powering his team to 150-3 and a lead of 25 runs.

Also read: CCL 2025: Match 2 Karnataka Bulldozers register stupendous victory against the Telugu Warriors 

Speaking on the sidelines of the match, Mumbai Heroes owner Sohail Khan said that heading in to bat for the second innings, the strategy of the team was do or die and to go all out and try and get a massive score on board. Shabbir took this to heart and going how he belted the Dabanggs’ bowlers, it seemed he was following in Asgar’s footsteps. Asgar stemmed the flow of runs in the 9th over, giving the Heroes only 3 runs, in the aftermath of a 32-run over by Dinesh Lal and then effected a direct throw to the stumps to run out Shabir in the last over. Sharad was run out in the last ball of the over, with the Heroes closing on 128 for 4 and a lead of 103 runs.

Set a target of 104 for the win, the Dabanggs got to work from the word go. Opener Uday Tiwari got 16 of 5 balls, but this run was cut short in the first over, following which skipper Manoj joined Asgar in the middle. The captain didn’t last very long, which brought Aditya back to give Asgar company. As was the case in the first innings, it was Asgar who then took charge; this time though, he was intent on making quick work of the target and getting some well-deserved rest, given that it was already past midnight at this point. At 5 overs, they were 11 short of victory, with 93-2. 5 balls later, they’d won by 8 wickets, with Asgar remaining unbeaten on 58.

At the end of the first week, the Bengal Tigers had 2 wins, Karnataka Bullldozers 1 and xx also 1. Next week is a 3-day cricket weekend from February 14 to February 16 , with matches to be held in Hyderabad and Cuttack. Live telecast and stream is available on Sony Sports Ten 3 and Disney + Hotstar,respectively.