Rakep Patel’s all-round performance fashioned an emphatic six-wicket victory for Kanbis Sports Club over Sikh Union in a Nairobi Provincial Cricket Association (NPCA) Super League match at Eastleigh High School yesterday.
Rakep, who earlier bowled economically, conceding just seven runs and picking up two important wickets in his two overs starred with the bat later on as he scored brisk 91 runs off 42 balls, hitting 11 fours and five sixes as his side chased down Sikh Union’s 150 in 19 overs. Opener Narendra Kalyan, who scored 36 from 29 balls was another main contributor with the bat for the home team. After bowling out the visitors in 40 overs, the hosts who are still in contention of another league title, had an early blow when opener Dhiren Gondaria was bowled in the third over for 11.
His dismissal paved way to a match-winning stand of 86 for the second wicket between Kalyan and Rakep before the former was caught. Two-down batsman Nelson Odhiambo didn’t trouble the scorers, only scoring two runs before he was bowled by Gurdeep Singh. Shantilal Raghwani was the fifth batsman on the crease with Rakep before Hamza Amir got the wicket of Rakep when he had him caught nine runs short of his third league century with only five required for victory. Raghwani remained unbeaten on 14 runs.
Sikh Union’s batsman turned all-rounder Gurdeep Singh took two wickets for 36, Lahore Blues’ Zafar Gohar took two wickets for 24 runs while Agha Salman and Raza Ali Dar claimed a wicket each for 20 and 30 runs, respectively. Earlier, electing to bat first after winning the toss, Sikh Union struggled with the bat with only one player Gurdeep looking stable in the middle. Despite seeing wickets falling regularly on one side of the wicket, Gurdeep remained calm to top-score with 75 runs. It was a bad start for the visitors as they lost their openers for ducks to Odhiambo and Gondaria.
Gondaria got his second when he bolwed Nadeem Ahmed for 10 runs. Skipper Rajesh Bhudia got his name on the wickets chart with the wicket of Zaheed Abbas, who he had stumped on 16. Standing at 53 for 4, the visitors were able to get relieve from a fifth wicket stand of 43 between Gurdeep and Sandip Adole. At one stage, the two looked set to lead their side into a comfortable score but when Adole was caught off Rakep and Gurdeep was also caught off Bhudia, things took a different turn and they recovered. Apart from Joseph Owino’s 19, none of the remaining batsmen were able to trouble the scorers’ ducks.
Bhudia ended his 10 overs with 3 for 40.
After the match, Gurdeep regretted poor batting from his team-mates, saying it was the main difference between them winning and losing. “We lost too many wickets at a timet we needed to settle. Had we managed to put on two or three big partnerships, then we could be speaking a different language,” Gurdeep, who is a member of the national team, said. On his part, Rakep said the bowlers effort in the first inning is what played a major role in the win. “The bowlers put on a good show. They bowled in good areas and tempted the batsmen in making the mistakes.”
Depite the win, Kanbis are still placed third while Sikh Union dropped down to fifth.
