CCL2026: Asgar Khan and Manoj Tiwari lead Bhojpuri Dabanggs to victory over the Telugu Warriors
CCL2026: Asgar Khan's knock in the middle order and captain Manoj TIwari's bowling went a long way in ensuring the Bhojpuri Dabanggs' victory in Match 2 of Season 12 of CCL
Last Updated: 12.06 AM, Jan 17, 2026
In the second match of Day 1 of Season 12 of the Celebrity Cricket League, 4-time champions Telugu Warriors and the Bhojpuri Dabanggs locked horns. Last year, both teams could muster only 1 win each in the group stage and were eliminated from the tournament. Akhil won the toss and decided to bowl first, a decision that backfired, what with the Dabanggs successfully defending their moderate total of 155 runs.
Asgar Khan leads Bhojpuri Dabanggs’ charge
Sent in to set a target, the Dabanggs lost skipper Manoj Tiwari in the first over, with the score at 4 runs only. Aditya Ojha and Ram Yadav slowly built a partnership that took the team to 69-1 and a projected score around the 135-140 runs mark, which, going by the first match, would not be enough of a score to defend. They needed to step up the pace. But in the very next ball, they lost Aditya, bringing Asgar Khan to the crease. An over later, Ram departed, having made 34 of 30 balls and the score 83-3.
It was then in the hands of Asgar, who was among the top 5 highest scoring batsmen of CCL2025, to get his team the big finish they needed. He tried and added 60 to the tally, but the problem was that he did not have much support at the other end. Asgar departed with the score at 150 and 5 runs later, the team had lost 3 more wickets and ended its innings.
What went wrong with the Telugu Warriors’ chase?
156 was the total that the Warriors had to chase, which, given their batting lineup, seemed like an easy ask. They did lose an early wicket in the very first over, when Dabanggs skipper Manoj Tiwari got rid of Sachiin Joshi. Undeterred, Akhil decided to take charge and just when he got things going, the match was suspended for quite a bit over a run out claim. The Dabanggs were convinced they got Akhil, but the stumps had been removed after the square leg umpire had referred the third umpire about whether the ball had got to the boundary or not moments earlier.
When play eventually resumed, with Akhil still at the crease, it didn’t take long for the Dabanggs to send him back for good, when Manoj trapped him LBW. Big hitter Ashwin was run out in the 6th over with the score on 42 and then Raghu followed suit after 2 more runs were added. The Dabanggs were doing everything right as far as their fielding efforts went and the Warriors not running between the stumps well enough.
Would Thaman be able to dig his team out of this mess? Well, this was not the day, because Manok got his third scalp in the form of the hitmaker musician. 45-5 in 7 overs it was at this stage. By the half-way mark, they were at 63-5 with Sudheer and Samba at the crease. Samba didn’t last much longer and with the score at 77, Sudheer was also gone. Vinay then tried bringing the fight back into the match, putting on a quick 27 from 19 balls. Once he was also back in the dug out, it didn’t take long for the Dabanggs to root out the rest of the Warrior team and restrict them to 114 runs only.
*Catch all the CCL2026 action live on JioHotstar (available via OTTplay Premium also).
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.