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Chennai Singams produced a commanding all-round performance to lift their maiden Indian Street Premier League (ISPL) Season 3 title, defeating Tiigers of Kolkata by 29 runs in the final at the Lalbhai Contractor Stadium on Friday, according to a release.
The Singams controlled the championship clash from start to finish in front of a packed house and in the esteemed presence of ISPL Core Committee members Sachin Tendulkar, Ashish Shelar, Minal Amol Kale and Suraj Samat, along with Dipak Chauhan, President - Operations. Winning the toss, Chennai opted to bat first. Openers Ketan Mhatre and Jagannath Sarkar set the tone early. After Jagannath survived a dropped catch in the opening over, Ketan launched a fierce assault, smashing 28 runs in the second over. Jagannath departed for 14, but Ketan continued the onslaught. In the 50-50 over, Saroj Pramanik struck twice in the first two balls, momentarily checking Chennai's momentum. However, Sarfaraz Khan's crucial six kept the scoreboard ticking. Ketan top-scored with 30 off 16 balls, while Sarfaraz added a brisk 20 off 11 deliveries. Late fireworks from Ganesh and Sambhaji, who struck a massive niner, propelled Chennai to a competitive 103/7 in 10 overs. Chasing 104, Kolkata never found momentum. Rajat Mundhe and Saroj Pramanik struggled early and Jagannath Sarkar then provided the breakthrough, dismissing Saroj for 11. Although Krushna Gawali and Rajat added 18 runs in the 50-50 over, Ankur Singh struck back by removing Rajat. Arish Khan (25 off 9) showed brief resistance, but it wasn't enough as Kolkata were managed to score only 74/9, handing Chennai a historic victory. Anurag Sarshar starred with the ball for the Singams, finishing with 3/17, while Sunil Kumar and Ankur Singh claimed two wickets each. Jagannath Sarkar won the Most Valuable Player (MVP) award of ISPL 2026, thus winning a Porsche 911 car, which has been a striking feature of this season and is one of the biggest individual awards in the history of any competitive sports tournament in the country. ISPL, the pioneering T-10 tennis-ball tournament in India, has grown in stature in Season 3 with the extreme emergence of talents, as Vivek Shelar showed his stellar pace in the competition and picked up a couple of hat-tricks. Ankit Yadav of Kolkata had an amazing show with 16 wickets as well. Falcon Risers Hyderabad's Prashant Gharat scored 203 runs, while Ahmedabad Lions' Nizam Ali was excellent with 20 wickets. The ISPL season 3 trials were conducted in 103 seasons as players from every corner of the nation took part in it. ISPL Season 3 award winners Best Batter: Saif Ali (Tiigers of Kolkata) Best Bowler: Parveen Kumar (Falcon Risers Hyderabad) Best Catch: Prathamesh Thackeray (Ahmedabad Lions) Most Valuable Player: Jagannath Sarkar (Chennai Singams) Brief Scores: Chennai Singams 103/7 in 10 overs (Ketan Mhatre 30; Saroj Pramanik 3/18) beat Tiigers of Kolkata 74/9 in 10 overs (Arish Khan 25; Anurag Sarshar 3/17) by 29 runs. (ANI)
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