Kerala Hunters win maiden T20 title

KERALA HUNTERS won the 2013 Zaaffran & Blueberry Hotel T20 cricket tournament after defeating Challengers by 5 wickets at Kicukiro cricket ground on Sunday. Pravith Presanaraj was the star for Kerala Hunters after he smashed a career best 72 runs off 54 balls, which included 7 fours and 4 sixes to walk away with the man of match award.Middle order batsman Rakesh Nair was also in a punishing mood, clobbering 3 sixes and 1 four as he put on 35 runs off 17 balls to help Kerala chase down Challenger’s 171 runs with one ball to spare.Bob Bashir Songa (44 runs), Srinath Vardhineni (36) Ahmed Farishta (35) and Subhasis Samal (30) were the biggest contributors to challenger’s total score of 171/5.Choosing to ball first, KHCC started their chase not as explosive at Challengers after scoring only 64 runs in the first 10 overs. Subhasis Samal was the pick of Challengers’ bowlers with 18 runs in his four overs.“Our main aim was not to lose many wickets in the first 10 overs,” said Kerala captain Suveesh Kottemmal. It was Kerala Hunters first title in the only second tournament since the club’s formation this year.Challengers captain Srinath Vardhineni remained philosophical about his side’s loss, saying, “Having made them have a slow start, they played very well towards the end by getting over 10 runs an over and our bowlers couldn’t stop that.”Challengers reached the final after beating Right Guards by 6 wickets in a thrilling semi-final, while Kerala Hunters beat Indorwa. Way to finalWinning the toss Challengers balled first and limited Right Guards to a small score of 154/1 with Joshua Mwanja (66) and Eric Dusingizimana (64). Needing 155 to win, the game went to the wire as Challengers chased it down with only 3 balls to spare. Srinath smashed 32 runs in just 14 balls to take the game away from Right Guards. Bob Songa and Evode Mutuyimana scored 38 and 45 runs respectively for Challengers. The loosing captain Eric Dusingizimana said, “We missed so many chances that led to our loss, we are however happy for getting to the semi-finals.”In the women’s category, Charity CC literally beat former champions White Clouds winning by 5 wickets. WCCC’s star players, Veronique Iriho (11) and Mary Maina (18) poor batting was the cause of a low total score of 108/7 in the allotted 20 overs. Karitonda Dianah took 3 wickets.In Charity’s chase, Cathia Uwamahoro (19) and Miriam Maina (32) had a 50 run partnership that set the platform for the win. Miriam Maina was later named woman of match.Awards;WomenWoman of Series – Raphael Ganimana Best Batter – Cathia Uwamahoro Best Bowler – Pacifique Nyirandorimana Best fielder – Vestine ByukusengeMenMan of series – Eric DusingizimanaBest batsman – Ed PearsonBest Bowler – Rakesh NairBest fielder – Joshua Mwanja

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Kerala Hunters win maiden T20 title