Kanbis, Swamis tussle for NPCA League supremacy

Immediate former leaders and defending champions Ruaraka Sports Club A didn’t score points this weekend and as such dipped to third position after 8 matches.

After nine weeks of brilliant display, the Swamis returned to the Super League summit with 24 points from 8 matches, but only just.

They are tied on 24 points with Kanbis but the Rushab Patel led Swamibapa have a slight edge on Net Run Rate having played an extra match.

Ruaraka and Swamibapa have completed their first leg matches, serving up great moments ahead in the 9-team competition.

It will be interesting though to see how the NPCA Super Division’s supremacy battles will pan out given that Kanbis have a match in hand too.

Kanbis were peerless in play as they handed Kenya Kongonis a 5-wickets blow at their Eastleigh backyard. Kongonis having won the toss and elected to bat first struggled to put on a decent partnership after another top order collapse saw them being reduced to 37/5 in just 10 overs. 

They were eventually bowled out for 134 in 31.1 overs. Kanbis with an eye on net run rate chased the score down in only 15 overs for the loss of 5 wickets.

Nairobi Gymkhana won the toss and elected to field first. In the first innings, the Swamis were bowled out for 203 in 49.3 overs. In reply, the runs were few and far between for Gymkhana who were bowled out for a paltry 50 in just 14.4 overs.

Sachin Gill was the toast of the Swamis after he collected 6 wickets to his credit. With the bat, Swamibapa’ s top order man Yash Chavan hit 70 off 84 balls while Sachin managed 34 off 65 before being caught out byBhavya Thaker. The youngster Neel Doshi bowled superbly with a spell of 6/33 in 9.3 overs. 

Sikhs Prevail

In form Sikh Union A maintained their winning streak with an 84-run advantage over Shree Cutchi leva Patel Samaj (SCLPS YL A) at the latter’s backyard in Nairobi West.

The Sikhs were glad to rack up the all-important 4 points. Sikh Union skipper Sukhdeep Singh nevertheless admitted they did have a panic in the first few overs on their innings, but the trust in the team batting till the end made them believe that 218 was a defendable score with the superb batting from Shoaib scoring a brilliant half century (85 runs) giving them the runs they needed in the top order.

“While coming into to bowl, the brilliance of Ali Raza helped us a lot. The team showed great fighting spirits when it came to bowling as we dropped a lot of catches. But we learn moving forward. Aum Patel came with a brilliant comeback in the squad with 2 crucial wickets to bring us in the game. To conclude, we are happy to bag 4 points and as we said we take game by game and not look too ahead of ourselves,” said Sukhdeep.

Meanwhile, Sir Ali Muslim Club A were back to winning ways with a deserved 8 wickets win over tail-enders Stray Lions A who suffered their fifth loss of the 50-Overs season.

The Gurdeep Singh “Sunny” led Sir Ali A have now won two out of seven matches after losing by 5-wickets to Kanbis last weekend.

For the T20 Champions Stray Lions A it was their fifth loss of the season after also picking a No-Result against Swamibapa on July 7. Sir Ali’s Hrushikesh Pawar was the chief tormentor for Stray Lions batsman after picking 5 wickets for only 17 runs.

Sunny was the match’s top scorer with 57 runs off 63 balls whilst his teammate Krishna Babu managed 56 off 61 deliveries.

The Super League continues next weekend, with Ruaraka A returning to the crease against Stray Lions A at Ruaraka Sports Club.

Swamibapa A will host SCLPS YL A Nairobi Jaffrey’s. Kanbis A will play Sir Ali A at Eastleigh grounds while Kongonis A and Nbi Gymkhana A will be at Nairobi Club.

The title race is well on this season with all the top 4 in contention for the coveted Super League title for 2024.

TOP FOUR POINTS

1. Swamibapa A 24 Points – Net Run Rate – 1.907

2. Kanbis A 24 Points – Net Run Rate – 1.690

3. Ruaraka A 20 Points – Net Rub Rate 1.985

4. Sikh Union 20 Points – Net Run Rate 1.012