06/10/2021
Phoenix Roars back to winning ways in Week 5 after suffering a loss in week 4
Phoenix was put into bat by Tucson after losing the toss for the first time in the tournament. Phoenix's star opening pair of Ashish Bobby Malhotra-abm and Ram Charan B put on an 86 run stand for the opening wicked in 8.5 overs to put them on the driver's seat from the beginning. After 2 quick wickets or Ashish and Amar, Phoenix scored some quick runs with Gurpreet Toor at the crease. Tucson's bowlers Bhumasamudram Jagadishand Bala Muthu (Phoenix team's owner) kept the batsmen in check and gave away only 37 runs of the final 7 overs of the innings. Phoenix were atleast 20 runs short of the expected score.
Tucson's batsmen went off to a flying start with 36 for no loss from 5 overs. Veteran Ram Ganapathy kept his cool to pick up Wasif in the 6th over and spinner Marsena dismissed Ram for a blinder of a catch of his own bowling. Tucson's batsmen Sundeep and Akshay put on a quick fire 47 of 32 balls for the 3rd wicket to propel their team to a winning position. With only 50 runs required of 7 overs, Tucson was all set for an upset win. In came Yogi for Phoenix and produced a great 14th over giving away just 1 run and dismissing the set batsman Akshay. Phoenix rotated their bowlers smartly to keep batsmen in check and kept the batsmen strangled at the crease. With the required run rate mounting, Tucson kept losing wickets and finally succumbed to some disciplined bowling in the last 7 overs by Phoenix. Phoenix had just pulled victory out of the Jaws of Tucson and survived a scary ride.
Earlier in Week 4, Phoenix had a nail-biting loss to Tempe by 1 wicket which made an interesting turn to the points table. Phoenix's batting was put into test by Tempe's bowlers as they failed to cross 100 for the first time in the tournament. Phoenix's bowlers fought hard to defend a small total and almost pulled it off, but Tempe managed to win in the end by a meagre 1 wicket. Rajesh Jena, Phoenix's captain picked up 5 wickets in one of the best spells of bowling in Arizona cricket.