The SG Stars wasted a golden opportunity to be in the inaugural winners of the Mariners EPS 50 Over Series by losing their third match of the series to the SG Crescents played on the 2nd of March 2019. Having already won their first two matches and sitting on the top of the pile with 6 points, one more win would have been enough to see the SG Stars finish the campaign as champions even with a fourth match remaining.
Batting first, the SG Stars found themselves 15/2 in just 3.4 overs, U19s off spinner Vinit Mehta and James Cox taking a wicket a piece of Mallik and the Malaysian Virandeep Singh. A decent recovery by Mutreja and Gaznavi came to an end when Mutreja 20 (35) was out LBW to the off spinners of Mukasa. From then on, a lone hand of Kshitij Shinde of 72 (99) was the only innings of substance for the SG Stars as they were all out in the 46th over for 170. Roger Mukasa once again coming to the fore with the ball in conceding just 29 runs in his 10 overs and claiming two scalps in the process.
The SG Crescents chase started in the best way possible as the opening pair of Dutta and Mukasa put on a 105-run opening stand up till Dutta was out caught and bowled to Virandeep Singh. By this time, the SG Crescents looked to be in complete control of their chase as Mukasa bided him time to work the ball around and bank on his key shots to score boundaries. Even as Crescents skipper Manpreet Singh departed, caught behind and becoming Virandeep’s second victim, the young Vinit Mehta given a chance at number four played a good supporting role to Mukasa in the chase scoring a run a ball 17 before being dismissed by Rangaswamy. It was all too late for the Stars by this point and Mukasa remained unbeaten on 85 * as the SG Crescents won by 7 wickets. Roger Mukasa continuing his rich vein of form and claiming his third man of the match in the Mariners EPS Series.
The SG Stars left ruing losing a match which would have sealed the 50 over series and will now have to play the SG Crimsons on the 3rd of March 2019 at IA which would be the decider as the SG Crescents are out of the race on the account of the lowest NRR of all three teams and having already having played all their matches. While the SG Stars have a slight advantage with NRR even if they were to lose the match, they would not want to leave it to chance and win their final fixture and end their 50 Over Series campaign on a high while the SG Crimsons will go all out to clinch the series themselves after recovering from two losses and a big win to put themselves back into contention.
