Swamibapa boosted their bid to win the inaugural Nairobi Invitational 50 overs League as Naman Patel’s superb show with the bat and the bowlers’ impressive performance inspired an eight-wicket win over Sir Ali yesterday.
Jadavji Bhimji’s three wickets and two each from Ngoche brothers Lameck, Nehemiah and James laid the platform for Swamibapa’s fourth victory of the campaign. The four shared all but one wicket as Sir Ali were bowled out for 118 with 23 overs to spare.
Naman then completed the work with 60 balls 64 as Swamibapa crossed the finish line in 23.2 overs.
After losing Rushab Patel in the second over with the board only on six, Naman and Irfan Karim pushed the scores to 54 in 10 overs to give the visitors a solid platform for another victory.
While Naman was more brutal in getting over the boundary, Karim was a bit relaxed trying to give his team-mate more batting chance.
The opener took the opportunity well—scoring eight boundaries and two sixes. After Karim was caught (20 off 32 balls), Naman went on to share a half-century stand of 52 runs with Dhwanil Patel (24 not out). Dhwanil and Maurice Ouma wrapped up the victory in a brief stance of 16 runs
“It was as easy at it looked. I think Sir Ali gave it their best but we ended up the best on the day. The bowlers gave us a good start and we had to reciprocate that by batting well regardless of the situation,” Naman said after the match.
