Indian Street Premier League (ISPL) Season 2: Key Takeaways Ahead of Knockout Rounds
by Devesh Jaganath | by Devesh Jaganath
Majhi Mumbai Is The Team To Beat
The second season of the ISPL kicked off with a grand opening ceremony that delivered fireworks both on and off the field. In the opening match of the competition, Majhi Mumbai, owned by legendary actor Amitabh Bachchan, took on the Tigers of Kolkata at the Dadoji Kondadev Stadium in a rematch of the inaugural season’s final. This time though, it was the men from Mumbai who came out on top, setting down and marker and sending out a clear message to the rest of the teams in the competition.
Majhi Mumbai chose to bowl first and put in a disciplined performance to restrict the defending champions to 68/8 before the batting prowess of Rajat Mundhe, Karan More and Amit Naik got the team over the line. Following that statement victory, Majhi Mumbai reeled off another seven consecutive victories to book their qualification to the knockout rounds with two games to spare. Last season’s runners-up are now widely considered the team to beat this year owing largely to their formidable bowling lineup with Abhishek Kumar Dalhor (15), Vijay Pawle (12) and Ankur Singh (11) currently ranked first to third in the leading wicket-taker standings respectively.
Srinagar Ke Veer Finding Top Form
Srinagar Ke Veer made an impressive start to the ISPL season 2, racking up back-to-back victories in their first two matches of the competition, including a sensational 10-wicket win against the Banglaore Strikers in their opening match. However, four consecutive defeats followed, leaving Akshay Kumar’s side with an uphill task over the final four rounds in order to secure a qualification spot. Facing Tigers of Kolkata in a crucial match 19 encounter, Srinagar Ke Veer rose to the challenge, beating the champs by eight wickets to move into the top four.
A seven-wicket victory over Chennai Singams followed, but their undoubted standout performance of the competition came in the penultimate round of the group stage when they shattered Majhi Mumbai’s unbeaten run in the competition with an emphatic seven-wicket win, spearheaded by Dilip Binjwa’s sublime batting. With that victory, Srinagar moved to 10 points with a net run rate of 0.08 ahead of a crucial matchup against Chennai on Sunday. If they win their upcoming fixture, Srinagar will almost certainly book their place in the knockouts and are a team to keep an eye on for the remainder of the competition.
Tigers of Kolkata Fall From Grace
After an incredible 2024 in which they won the inaugural season of the ISPL, the Tigers of Kolkata have endured a dismal campaign this time around. With two games still to play, the champions will not be able to defend their title this year, currently rock bottom in the standings with just two points earned after eight games, which means that they are already eliminated from knockout contention.
Saif Ali and Kareena Kapoor Khan’s side’s only victory in this competition came over the Chennai Singams on January 31. The major downfall of the Tigers this season has been their bowling, where none of their players currently feature in the top 10 of the leading wicket-taker standings. With knockout qualification out of the question, Kolkata will play out their final two games against Chennai and Bangalore as mere formality.
