Kips White defends T20 Cricket crown
Outstanding concentration and skill saw Kips White register an impressive 40-run victory over OG Plastic Blue to successfully defend the Inter-Club Twenty-20 (T-20) Cricket Tournament crown at Mpingwe Sports Club (MSC) on Sunday.
Just like in any heroic adventure, White had a wobbly start; their opener Abid Raja got caught on the very first ball of the innings and batsman Majid Khan got ran out in the second over.
However, their captain Karamat Chaudhry and Ahsan Jonty provided a good partnership to take White out of the woods.
Chaudhry scored the most needed 26 runs to get off the hook and he got caught while trying to hit for a six.
Ahsan Jonty kept White alive as he made an individual contribution of 74 runs and got out on the last ball of the innings. White made 136 runs and lost seven wickets in 20-overs.
In response, Blue, who at one point were 66/9 out in 9.4-overs, only made 96-runs. Their opener, Munir Iqbar, gave them false hopes when he made nine runs with just three balls, but it did not take long before he got ran out by Chaudhry and Liaqat Master in the second over.
“It feels good to successfully defend the title without losing a single match right from the preliminary stage,” marvelled Chaudhry.
White’s Jonty emerged as the Player-of-the-Tournament after accumulating 293 runs and claiming eight wickets in seven matches.
Blue’s Mudssir Patel got the best bowler accolade with 15 wickets whereas Sehbaz Saikh of MSC Purple finished as the best batsman with 349 runs. White’s Liyakat Master was named Man-of-the-Match during the final.
According to the competition’s organising chairperson Saeed Limdawala, following the conclusion of the 20-overs contest, focus will turn on the 25-overs Tournament, this Sunday.
