Shikhar Dhawan’s ‘Gabbarball’ flooring Southern Spartans, helps Northern Challengers choose up 1st win in Massive Cricket League

Northern Challengers skipper Shikhar Dhawan‘s fiery 86-run knock powered the side to a 6-wicket victory against Southern Spartans in the first game of Big Cricket League (BCL 2024). The southpaw turned the clock back to display some vicious batting that saw NC chase down the mammoth 204-run target with 1.2 overs to spare. Promising knocks from Suresh Raina, Solomon Mire, Abhimanyu Mithun and Aman Khan allowed SS to amass a huge total, only for their bowlers to concede the game easily.

Shikhar Dhawan’s knock floors SS in BCL 2024 opener

Shikhar Dhawan took it on himself to make the run-chase easy for the side, smashing 86 runs off just 43 deliveries. After getting a couple of lifelines due to missed catches early in the innings, the NC skipper punished the bowlers by taking them to the cleaners. He narrowly missed out on a well-deserved hundred after getting caught out. His opening partner Vishal Prasad (13) was the first batter to depart. Rajat Singh (18) looked like he was in fine touch, only for his innings to come to an end in an unfortunate caught and bowled manner.

Gurkeerat Mann and Dhawan then stitched together a 50+ run partnership and helped NC cruise in the run-chase. A couple of quick wickets towards the end of the game gave Spartans some hope. However, Bipul Sharma’s cameo of 33 runs ensured that NC sealed a comfortable 6-wicket win over SS.

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Northern Challengers had won the toss and opted to field first. Spartans opener Solomon Mire sizzled with a 47-run knock before he was sent packing. SS skipper Suresh Raina (49) missed out on his half-century in an agonising manner after being run-out while he was out of the popping crease at the non-strikers end and the ball deflected from the bowler’s hand to hit the stumps. Aman Khan (29) and Abhimanyu Mithun (27) played brilliantly towards the end of the 1st innings to guide SS to a formidable 203-run total. However, Spartans were completely caught off-guard, thanks to Dhawan’s blitzkrieg and a sloppy fielding.