CCL 2025 Day 7: Match 14 Mumbai Heroes get consolation win; beat Punjab De Sher

As a confirmed semi-finalist, Punjab De Sher could have taken the last match against the Mumbai Heroes lightly, but despite trailing massively in the first innings, they put up a good fight to get as close as they could to the target they had to chase, eventually. They fell short and gave Mumbai Heroes their first win in this edition of the tournament, but the effort, most certainly affects the net run-rate. Who will Punjab De Sher play on March 1?

In the last match of the group stage too, the team that won the toss, which, in this case was the Mumbai Heroes, chose to bat first and set a target. Mumbai Heroes lost Samir Kochar early on, but then skipper Saqib Saleem and Rajeev Pillai decided to take the Punjab De Sher bowling apart with blistering shots all across the Lalbhai Contractor Stadium in Surat. Saqib top scored with 80 of only 28 balls, taking the team to 141-3 in their allotted 10 overs. A great knock that, unfortunately came too late, what with the Heroes already knocked out of the tournament.

Fresh off of a scintillating victory against the Karnataka Bulldozers only a day earlier, Punjab De Sher was in great spirits, but the chase did not exactly go their way. That Harrdy Sandhu’s 26 was the top score in their first innings score of 100 for the loss of 4 wickets tells a lot about how good the bowling and fielding of the Heroes was. Heading into a second innings with a deficit is never a good sign, especially when it is as high as 41.

Back for their second innings, the Mumbai Heroes didn’t maintain the tempo of the first, but they still amassed a total of 105, with Navdeep contributing 66. After the great knock in the first innings, Saqib struck out in the second, departing after making only 10. The eventual target for the Shers was 146 and going by how the chase began, it was clear that the Heroes were finally getting to taste victory in the tournament.

A win for the Mumbai Heroes was guaranteed, but the Shers’ Anuj Khurana was not going to let it be with a massive margin. Although he didn’t get much support from the rest of the team, Anuj’s 73 of only 31 balls got them to 129 for 4 only, giving the Mumbai Heroes a 17-run victory.

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Celebrity Cricket League 2025: Presenting the top 4 teams heading to the semi-finals in Mysuru 

With the completion of the group stage matches and the semi-finalists decided, the finale weekend of CCL 2025 moves back to Karnataka. On March 1 and 2, the semi-finals and the Season 11 final will play out in the Heritage City of Mysuru.