A busy weekend of cricket got underway in fog and light drizzle as the Avengers batted against NSK. Praveen Manhas (21) and Jaspreet Bajwa built a solid foundation with a 55 run opening partnership, and this was built on with 42 from Gurman Khurana, and 49 from Rahul Vashishtha as the Avengers made 195/8. Prahar Vyas took 3 wickets for NSK.
Ibnul Inan took three early wickets with his left arm spin, helped by two sharp slip catches from Daxraj Mehta, and despite 55 from Rakesh Negi, NSK were beaten by 58 runs.
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In the second match the Tigers secured a spot in Division 1 with a narrow win over the Hurricanes. The Tigers batting first made 126 for 7, Fahad Hossain top scoring with 33 and Iftekhar Masud and Wahidur Rahman each taking 3 wickets. In reply, the Hurricanes fell just 15 runs short, Indranil Malik bowling his 4 overs for just 8 runs and taking 2 wickets, and Anol Azad taking 3 wickets.
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In Saturday’s final match, the Royal Challengers put up 198 for 2 wickets, Amit Neghandi (51) and Ranvir Rana (41) with a century opening partnership and Maanik Arora making 42. The Eagles lost two early wickets but Abdul Rafeh (30) and Raheel Zaman led a recovery. A superb innings by Raheel took the match to the final over, with the Eagles needing 14 with 4 wickets left. Raheel hit the second ball for 6, and took twos of the other balls to win the match from the 5th ball. He finished on 98 from 58 balls with three fours and seven sixes.
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Rain on Sunday morning prevented play in the Tigers-Stars match, which will be played on Monday but by 12:30, conditions were good enough for the other two matches. The Hurricanes batted first, and lost their first 5 wickets for 23 runs, Jaspreet Bajwa taking 3/14. The Hurricanes battled hard but were bowled out for 86. The Avengers openers Rubin Deol and Daxraj Mehta put on a patient 74 for the first wicket, and the Avengers won by 7 wickets with 3 overs to spare.
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The NSK-Eagles match had a place in Division 1 at stake, and it proved to be a hard fought battle. Eagles batted first, and two run outs, and two wickets for Nick Baxter had their innings in tatters at 23/4. Mohammed Asim (22), Anmer Shahid (29) and Himreet allowed them to post a target of 112. NSK also got off to a poor start, with three wickets down for 23.
The Avengers top the table with an unbeaten record. Vaishalkumar Patel and Rakesh Negi (27) put on 51, and despite losing two wickets to consecutive balls with the score on 101, NSK won by 4 wickets in the 19th over. Vaishalkumar Patel’s patient unbeaten 37 was the top score of the match.
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Monday saw perfect cricket weather as the Tigers played the Stars to conclude the first round. The Tigers put 172/7 on the board with Mohammed Zilani making 61 from 31 balls. Nahin Ahmed took 3/24 as the Stars were bowled out for 97.
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With the conclusion of round 1, the Division 1/ Division 2 split is decided. Avengers top the table, unbeaten in their six games, Tigers finish second, and Royal Challengers, NSK and Eagles are tied for third on 6 points. Based on net run rate, RC place third, NSK 4th, and Eagles will play in Division 2 along with the Hurricanes and Stars.