Visiting Indian professional side Maruti Marble have attributed their Shree Cutchi Leva Patel Samaj Six-A-Side tournament success to team cohesion and consistency.
The visitors beat Kenyan side Stray Lions by 12 runs to win the 17th edition of the event, dethroning Kanbis.
Stray Lions failed to upgrade their runners-up finish from last year.
The visiting Maruti outfit are in the country for the Gansham T10 Cricket Tournament slated for June 8 to June 22, at Cutchi Leva Samaj grounds in Nairobi West.
Lions captain, Tanzeel Sheikh, said the better side won.
Tanzeel said: “In cricket you win some and lose some. Our opponents fielded well. We just to be composed and plan well and we will be good to go.”
Maruri captain Kishan Varsani, a wicket keeper, said: “It’s such a cheerful and memorable experience for us. The boys were consistent on the bat and fielded well. Cohesion and focus paid off. This is a great start for us in Kenya ahead of the Gansham T10 Cricket Tournament. We thank the Samaj community for giving us this opportunity to prove ourselves.”
En-route to the final, Stray Lions beat SCLPS Samaj Momabsa by seven runs while Maruti defeated Swamibapa ‘A’ by a similar score.
Swamibapa wicket keeper and opener Rushabh Patel scored the highest number of sixes (8) while Maruti’s Hiren Kerai had the most runs (92).
The highest number of wickets and catches went to Team BFF’s Haeshil Varsani and Mansukh Jesani respectively.
Harshil emerged as the most valuable player with 14.3 ranking points. Hosts Cutch Leva ‘A’ were eliminated by Maruti in quarters after a 7- wickets loss.
Samaj Sports Secretary, Raj Bhudia, said: “We have witnessed incredible improvements in performance. Swamibapa ‘B’ had to play two Super Overs to reach the quarters. Unfortunately, failed to reach the semis.
“We might get innovative in future tournaments. We used to play knockouts straight away, but introduced group stages frim last year. We have adapted to give teams more game time.”
This year’s tournament was sponsored by Crown Paints, Ndovu Cement, Purple Dot among others.
