Stray Lions skipper Hiren Varaiya has praised his side’s character following their first win of the Nairobi Provincial Cricket Association Super League season.
The defending champions bounced back from a shocking 46 runs loss to Obuya Academy two weeks ago to beat hosts Nairobi Gymkhana by nine wickets as the league entered the third wicket on Sunday.
Varaiya hailed the patience of the team as they bowled out the hosts for 116 runs before openers Shubham Jadhav (72 not out) and Francis Mutua (46) played a major role in the win with a stand of 98 runs.
Varaiya who scalped four wickets as the home team’s innings folded in 33.3 overs said: “It’s a match that we needed to win by all means. The wicket was unpredictable but we did what we could to get the win. Everybody worked really hard to improve as a unit and today we showed a lot of character.”
“After bowling them out under the conditions, we were not sure how they would approach us and we hoped that the openers would adapt quickly and that is what exactly happened. It was a positive approach from the two (Mutua and Jadhav),” Varaiya said.
Mutua, who was promoted at the tail end last season to opening slot in the two matches faced 60 balls that included two sixes and five boundaries before he was caught at covers with 21 runs needed.
“Today we got to see what Mutua can do. At no point did we feel they were panicking. They backed themselves and played cricketing shots,” added Varaiya.
Jadhav, who also top-scored for Stray Lions in their loss to Obuya Academy hit 15 fours from 54 as he remained unbeaten after putting on 21 with Krishna Katukala (0).
Gymkhana’s top-order comprising of skipper Harsh Patel (5), Kavi Dosaja (14), Satwick Mishra (8) and Joseph Onyango (10) failed to give their side the platform that was needed to scare the defending champions as they lost wickets in quick succession.
Arun Yadav (33) and Dominic Wesonga (15) were the only players in the home team’s lineup that seemed to give Stray Lions something to ponder about.
“The top order, myself included, didn’t bat well and we paid for that by setting them that low score. We will need to do a lot if we are to be
competitive,” Patel said.
Elsewhere, Kanbis failed to win at Ruaraka for the second time in a row when they went down by six wickets. Electing to bat, Kanbis were in trouble at 57 for 4 before Rakep Patel (26), Nelson Odhiambo (21) and Keval Bhuva (20) led them to 158 in 41.2 overs.
Sachin Gill and Maxwell Swaminathan top-scored for the home team with 59 not out and 47 respectively.
