Red-hot Odhiambo steers Kanbis to Hirani T20 title
Kanbis players celebrate with the title after winning the Hirani Telecoms Invitational Twenty20 tourney after beating Ruaraka by six wickets at the Sikh Union grounds on August 4, 2019. PHOTO | CHRIS OMOLLO |
What you need to know:
- Narendra Patel took the team out off the wood when he shared a third wicket partnership of 60 runs with Odhiambo.
- Ruaraka wickets were shared among Mukund (1/26), Hashit Vekaria (1/20), Rinkesh Vekariya (1/10) and Neel Akash (1/23).
Kanbis’ evergreen batsman, Nelson Odhiambo, on Sunday blasted a quick unbeaten half century that helped his team clinch the Hirani Telecoms Invitational Twenty20 trophy as they beat Ruaraka by six wickets at the Sikh Union grounds.
Odhiambo’s 67 not out came off 51 deliveries that included five boundaries and two towering sixes and was Kanbis’ highest runs getter.
Kanbis’ win did not come on a silver platter as they were made to fight tooth and nail by Ruaraka, who won the toss and elected to bat first setting a target of 140 for the loss of five wickets in their allotted 20 overs.
Valbhav Patil (61 off 51 balls with two boundaries and three sixes) top scored for Ruaraka. Valbhav shared a fourth wicket partnership of 95 runs with Mukund Sardar (42 off 30 balls with three boundaries).
The stand was broken when Narendra Patel (2/18) clean bowled Mukund. Neel Akash with a run a ball 14 that included two boundaries. The trio were Ruaraka’s batsmen who contributed meaningful runs for their team.
Nelson Odhiambo (2/23) and Naschay Kerai (1/25) were the other Kanbis’ wicket takers.
In reply, Kanbis reached the target 143 with six wickets and five balls in hand. Odhiambo shared a winning fifth wicket stand of 51 with Ankit Hirani, who was 18 not out that came off 16 balls with a boundary and a six.
Narendra (38 off 25 balls with five boundaries and two sixes) was the other Kanbis batsman who shone with the bat.
Kanbis started their innings on a sour note when their opening batsman Dhiren Gondaria was caught by Vekaria of the bowling of Ankit Hirani for two runs with a score of three showing on the scoreboard.
Kanbis lost another important wicket when the former national skipper, Rakep Patel was caught by Hirani off the bowling of Mukund for four with a score of 10 showing on the board.
Narendra Patel took the team out off the wood when he shared a third wicket partnership of 60 runs with Odhiambo.
Ruaraka wickets were shared among Mukund (1/26), Hashit Vekaria (1/20), Rinkesh Vekariya (1/10) and Neel Akash (1/23).
