CCL 2025 Day 5: Match 10 Defending champions Bengal Tigers record third straight victory; give Mumbai Heroes a solid drubbing

The last match of Week 2 brought the defending champions, Bengal Tigers, back on the field, taking on the Mumbai Heroes, who after two back-to-back losses were yet to open their tally. The Tigers, though, were in no mood to let the Heroes breathe easy and decided that a third victory and a semi-final spot is what they wanted and got to.

The Heroes won the toss and decided to bat and set a target, with Saqib and Rajeev in the middle. Jammy Banerjee got the first breakthrough, when he got Rajeev out, and then followed that up with Samir Kochar’s wicket in the very next ball. The Tigers’ all-rounder missed out on a hat-trick, though, as Saqib and Shabir Ahluwalia attempted to stabilize the innings. However, by the fourth over, Shabir was gone, having scored 8 only. It was up to Saqib and Navdeep to steer the Heroes towards a respectable total, then. The skipper’s run was cut short, though, but Navdeep held on, with his 61 of 22 going a long way in ensuring the team got to 113 for the loss of 6.

Also read: CCL 2025 Day 5: Match 9 Punjab De Sher snatch a victory from the Bhojpuri Dabanggs 

Chasing this total, the Tigers had an early setback when opener Bonny departed, but then Jammy and skipper Jisshu steadied the boat. The Tigers routinely lost wickets, but never lost sight of the total that they were chasing. Even though Rahul fell for 6 and Joy for a duck, Yusuf did his bit and got 22 of 12. Navdeep had some late success against the Tigers in the last over, but not before sending down a bunch of wayward deliveries that helped the defending champions cross the Heroes’ total and have the slightest lead, getting to 116- 8. Navdeep, got a 5-wicket haul against the Tigers, including a hattrick in that last spell.

In the second innings, though, Navdeep could not repeat the magic of the first, departing for 15 and the Heroes were in all sorts of trouble after that, losing a wicket every 10-12 runs. While Sidhaant also got to 15, Apoorva to 13 and Shabir to 12, the rest had single-digit scores to their credit. The Tigers conceded 11 extras on the strength of which the Heroes got to a final score of 88 for the loss of 8 wickets. 86 for the win was the ask for the defending champions.

The Tigers lost opener Rahul and Joy with single-digit scores. With Jammy at the crease, there should be nothing much to worry, but on the very first ball he faced, he was almost out, when the on-field umpire declared him out, which was overturned by the third umpire on review. There was more drama involving Jammy, when, first, Aditya was run out, and then he himself was back in the dug-out; the score 31-4 in 4.4 over. It was then down to captain Jisshu and Yusuf to get the team to safety and the skipper took the ask very seriously. His 34 from 15 included the winning shot for maximum, when the requirement was 3 runs in the last over.

The major problem with the CCL matches this time has been with the slow pace of proceedings, with the evening ones, in particular, spanning at least 5 hours or more. This also means that the matches go on till 1-1.30 am on the next day, which, as the commentators pointed out, is something the organizers and teams ought to look into. Between balls and overs, too much time is spent in deliberation, field placement, etc.

Next week, in the final leg of group stage matches, the tournament heads to Surat, with all 7 teams playing in this schedule. All matches of CCL can be watched live on JioHotstar, with replays also available.