The Avengers remain unbeaten after winning Saturday’s opening match by 6 wickets. Royal Challengers took first innings and made 143/9, Akash Singh top-scoring with 44, supported by Mukul Dhawan’s 23. Jaspreet Bajwa, Praveen Manhas and debutant Jagbeer each took two wickets. Praveen and Jaspreet (23) opened the Avengers batting and put on 71 for the first wicket. Rahul Vashishtha’s run of big scores came to an end as he made 25, but Praveen’s 56 took Avengers to victory in 16.4 overs.
Scorecard
The second match was perhaps the best T20 match of the summer to date and NSK and Tigers battled hard, with the game decided on the penultimate ball. The Tigers batted first, and Nick Baxter quickly had them on the back foot with two wickets in the opening over. Ali Raza however rode a bit of luck, and in partnership with Mohammed Zilani took the score to 100 before he was caught in the deep for 68. Zilani made an excellent 41, including a remarkable square drive for 6 over point, and the Tigers posted a respectable score of 158/6. NSK bowled well as a team, notably only bowling 2 wides in the 20 overs, with Nick leading the way with 2/19.
NSK got off to a good start, with Vaishal Patel making an excellent 41. Rakesh Negi made a steady 31, but NSK needed 50 off the last 10 overs. The match was in the balance right up to the last over, with NSK needing 11, and then 8 from 2 balls. Shami Khan concluded an excellent innings of 45 by striking the critical blow, despatching a no-ball over square leg for 6, then calmly taking a single for the win.
Scorecard
Avengers top the Division 1 table with 4 wins from 4 matches, with NSK just behind on 3 wins. With 2 matches left to play for each time the title is still in the balance.
Scorecard
With just one match left to play in Division 2, the Hurricanes have secured the title with 3 wins from four games, leaving the Eagles and Stars to battle for second place.
In the light of the weather forecast for Sunday, the scheduled matches have been rescheduled.