40 over one day games were kicked off on 15th Nov. Tournament format starts with direct playoffs. Participating teams are;
- Tokyo Rhinos [ TRCC ]
- Kawasaki Knight Riders [ KKR ]
- Indian Engineers [ IECC ]
- Tokyo Titans [ TTCC]
Generally, aim of participating team to be in top two and and get consideration for entry into division 3 league.
1st Semifinal : Indian Engineers vs Tokyo Titans @Sano3 cricket ground
Brief score : RHINOS 230/6 / IECC 198 all out
In the first semifinal, Rhinos won the toss and elected to bat first. IECC could have had a wonderful start in first over itself if they held on to 2 straightforward catches. But slippery hands were the order of the day. Overall, 9 catches dropped chances proved costly for IECC. Ajay Thakur benefitted the most as he racked up 88(107) for himself before Harry mankaded him for backing up too much outside the crease. Pankaj Chand 23(32), Birat Singh Khatri 17(29) and Arjun Gautham33 (15) supported him well. At the end, RHINOS posted 230/6 in 40 overs. Harry Singh grabbed 2/47(8ov)
Indian Engineers chase 231
IECC opening pair of Kashyap Pandya 7(54) and Bidyut Sarkar 41(63)provided stable opening partnership but lacked to pace the inning. Later on Prashant Kale (50) & Manu B 23(24) tried to pace and chase the target. However, as run rate kept going higher, the team kept losing wickets trying to for big hits. Finally, the team was all out for 198 runs. Amongst RHINOS, Abhishek Chettri Khatri bagged 4/ 52 ( 8ov)
CRICHQ match scorecard link here.
2nd Semifinal : Kawasaki Knight Riders vs Tokyo Titans @Sano1 cricket ground
Brief score : KKR 183/ 9(40) | Tokyo Titans 147/9 (36)
While on the Sano1 cricket ground, KKR won the toss and elected to bat first. With a full lineup of KKR and a small ground, expectations of a high scoring game were surely raised. However, TITANS opening bowlers Bhaskar Rao (5-1-29-0) and Arther Zhou (8-0-20-1) managed to keep the score respectable at 5 rpo for first 10 overs. Augustine Jabo picked the first wicket of Naveen Gaur 25 (29). 49/1, (10). Halfway through the inning, KKR were 103/3 after 23 overs and looking to post a big total on the board with Vinay on the crease. Rasika Chandimal’s introduction in the 24th over changed the game completely. In his first over, he grabbed 2 wickets, Vinay Iyer 39(69) on the first ball, and on the last ball of the over, he bowled Raman Tanwar for 0 (3). Shubham Shukla 28(25), Manish Kumar12 (41), Raman Sharma 4(9) fell to Rasika bag a 5 for. KKR posted a modest total of 183/9 in 40 overs. Apparently, Titans took the field with 10 players on a small ground so it was a tremendous effort. CRICHQ scorecard here
Titans chase 184 to win
Titans buoyed by good bowling performance were looking forward to the batsmen coming on the forefront. TITANs opener Navjeet Thakur and Rasika Chandimal 22 (41) provided a good start with 54/0 (10overs). In 11th over, Raman provided the first breakthrough when he bowled Navjeet Thakur for 28 (30). Soon afterwards, the KKR bowling unit found rhythm and took wicket regularly. Santosh Pagire 11 ( 22) and Malith Rathnasena 22 (36) anchored the middle overs to keep Titans in the chase. After 30 overs, TITANS were 122/6. 62 runs needed off 60 balls. KKR bowling displayed resilience and produced dot balls that stalled the process but not much. At the end of 35th over, TITANS were 145/7, needing 39runs off 30 balls. But 36th over of the game shattered TITANs dreams as Vinay took remaining 2 wickets to seal the game for KKR.
CRICHQ scorecard link here
Match highlight link here
Next games
In the Finals, KKR will meet impressive Tokyo RHINOS on 22nd Nov 2020 at Sano 3 ground.
3rd and 4th place game will be played between IECC and Tokyo Titans at Sano 1 ground. stay tuned for the match reports and highlights.
