Rahul Seedhar bowled an over for the first time in nearly a year as his all-round performance carried Sikh Union to their third victory in the Nairobi Invitational Cricket T20 win on Saturday at Sikh Club Union.
The London School of Economics students took 4 for 13 in just 21 balls to bowl out visitors Ngara Sports Club for 111. In reply, the home team were home and dry with nine balls to play with national U19 players Jasraj Kundi top-scoring with an unbeaten 82.
Coming in after Akash Sharma had conceded 20 runs for one wicket in two overs, Seedhar controlled the bowling with wickets at regular and the visitors batting crumbled.
“I am happy to have put on such a show in my first match with Sikh Union. I didn’t expect to put on this kind of a show but I am happy it worked out well and my teammates were supportive,” Seedhar said.
In reply, Kundi hit four sixes and five fours in his 52 ball knock to lead his side to another victory. Despite losing partners including Seedhar (8) along the way, Kundi remained composed managing to clear the boundary when needed to ease pressure in the last overs.
It was another gloomy day for Stray Lions as their losing streak extended to four matches when they went down by 46 runs to hosts Cutchi Leva at Samaj School.
Despite falling once again, there was a better show with the bat as they managed 152 for 5 in their pursuit for 198. Aman Gandhi was once again the star with the bat with an unbeaten 89 but was let down by lack of acceleration from the other ends as they had many dot balls.
Apart from Varun Prakash who scored 25, none of the other four batsmen scored more than 15 runs.
The hosts scored at over nine an over courtesy of Mohit Dhutia’s 102 and Arpit Bhatewara (74) on their way to 198 for 3. The two shared a second-wicket stand of 163 after Dhutia had lost Deepak Pindoria on two to get the scores to 177.
At Ruaraka Sports Club, the hosts good run was brought to a halt when they went down by 52 runs to Kanbis. Jayant Mepani was the hero for the visitors with 4 for 19 in their defence for 157.
Despite the loss, Ruaraka bowlers put a good show slowing down Kanbis’ batting flow in the match. Skipper Rajesh Bhudia (44) and Vinod Rabadia (56) were the top scorers.
In another match, Sir Ali registered their third win in four matches by a 29 runs win over Kongonis. Chasing 201 after Sandip Adole and Zahid Abbas had both scored 54, Kongonis managed 172 for 8.
At Nairobi Gymkhana, Jadavji Bhimji and Nehemiah Odhiambo shared seven wickets to bowl out the hosts for 65 on their way to ten wicket win.
