Kerala Kings win despite Shakib's diamond duck
On the night of bringing down the curtain on the T10 League, the
first semi-final saw Maratha Arabians face the Kerala Kings.
The Kerala Kings who were the champions of group-A, also
retained the first place in the playoff phase. In the 1st semi-final
of T10 league, they have defeated the Maratha Arabians by 5 wickets with 5
balls to spare.
Previously, Maratha Arabians scored a total of 97 runs
losing 9 wickets. The team filled with batsmen who can dominate the shorter
forms of the game, fell short of expectations. The top-order batsmen could not
reach a double-digit score. As a result, three of the lower-middle order
batsmen: DJ Bravo, Imad Wasim and Mohammad Sami gifted their team with a handful of runs.
Sohail Tanvir bagged 3 wickets for Kerala Kings, while Rayad
Emrit and Liam Plunkett took 2 wickets each. Wahab Riaz and Kieron Pollard also
picked up a wicket individually.
In reply, while batting, Kerala Kings lost their first wicket at 16 runs,
all of it scored by Chadwick Walton off 5 deliveries. Then came the man of the
night, Eoin Morgan, who built an amazing partnership of 77 runs with Paul
Sterling. Morgan scored 53 runs facing 32 deliveries before getting out by
Zahoor Khan. Stirling played an innings of 17 runs from 12 balls.
Reaching very close to the target, Kerala lost 4 wickets in
quick succession as their scoreline became 94-5 from 93-1. Alongside two
run outs; Imad Wasim, Zahoor Khan and Mohammad Sami picked up 1 wicket each for
the losing side.
While Shakib Al Hasan and Kieron Pollard, getting out for a
duck, left their team under pressure, Rohan Mustafa came on the pitch and
smashed a boundary that ensured their victory. Now, the team will be looking
forward to win the final tonight against their opponents yet to be decided.
