Kingfishers KINGS clinch AZTwenty20 ChampionshipAuthor : Anand Kumar
AZTwenty20 Summer Cricket Tournament came to a glorious end last weekend with Kingfishers KINGS beating the Metro Suns in the final and clinching the coveted trophy for the second time in a row. On a pleasant Saturday evening, the final match was played in a competitive manner as many families and friends of the cricketers turned up to cheer for them making the occasion even bigger and special.
FINAL: Kingfishers KINGS Vs Metro Suns @ Washington (E):
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Metro Suns won the toss and invited KINGS to bat first. Kings Opener Praveen and Maheshwar were clear in their intensions from the first over as they carved 38 runs off first 4 overs and set up a solid platform for KINGS. Once Maheshwar (18 off 11, 3x4) departed, KINGS captain Anand then started cautiously with the opener Praveen. They batted sensibly for a while and made sure that there was no further damage early on in their innings. Together they added 60 runs off as many balls before Anand (31 off 33, 1x4, and 2x6) edged one to Santosh off Vivek. Praveen soon got out after reaching his second fifty of the tournament (51 off 53, 3x4, and 1x6) but Gopi (19 off 13, 2x4, 1x6) and Rohan (8 off 5) batted with composure and took KINGS to a formidable total of 141/7 in 20 overs. Captain Abhi was the best bowler for Suns as he claimed 1/15 in 4 overs.Chasing 142 in a final match was always going to be tough and Maheshwar made.jpg)
it tougher for Suns as he removed the dangerous Krishnan Rajgopalan (6 off 7) early on. Suns experienced opener Sanjit batted sensibly with Ravi Jassal who was sent at number 3 in order to score runs quickly but when Rohan was given the ball in the 7th over, he removed both Ravi and new batsman Vivek in the same over and dented Suns chances further. Sanjit Tayi (23 off 51) batted beautifully from one end but once he was cleaned by Anand, Metro Suns soon collapsed for 83. Rohan Raghunathan was the best bowler for KINGS as he claimed 4/11 in 4 overs.
The final game was played with Great Spirit as both teams mixed well and appreciated good play and sportsmanship shown by each other. Praveen Raj from KINGS was the man of the final match for his splendid half century as he helped KINGS set up an invincible target in the finals.
Brief Scores:
Result: KINGS won the AZTwenty20 Championship 2008 by 58 runs.
ALL STAR GAME: Along side the exciting final game, an ALL star game was played wherein the All STAR RED team led by Venkat (Metro Stars) defeated the ALL STAR BLUE team led by SAI Niranjan (Oceans Blue) by 8 wickets. All Star blue won the toss and elected to bat but could only score 79 in 15 overs. Captain Sai was the highest scorer for them. Rajan Kale made the ALL STAR RED Team’s job easier as he creamed 51 in no time and the match was finished within 10 overs. Rajan Kale was the man of the match for his all round performance.
AWARDS CEREMONY: The chief organizer of the tournament Mahesh Naik from Metro Stars Cricket club presented all the awards to the winners in the tournament that lasted for as many as 10 weeks.
Best Batsman: Praveen Raj (KCC KINGS), 284 runs @ average of 40.75.
Best Bowler: Abhishek Devireddy (Metro Suns), 17 wickets @ economy of 3.6
Best All Rounder: SAI Niranjan (Oceans Blue), 15 wickets and 144 runs.
Best Wicketkeeper: Tariq Suheb (Metro Stars)
Runners Up AZTwenty20 2008: Metro Suns
Winners AZTwenty20 2008: Kingfishers Kings
This concludes a major hit and successful chapter of AZTwenty20. As we conclude this report, some of the important stats from the tournament:
· Total number of games played: 50. Only one game lost to rain
· 98% of the games started and finished on time.
· Maximum number of Sixes hit by a cricketer = 10 (Praveen Raj from KINGS and Rajan Kale from Metro Stars)
· Highest Individual Score: 89* (Digambar Singh from Metro Champs