Vinay Patahania scored a half century for Bay of Plenty Indian Sports Club in their victory in the final of the IPL Twenty20 at Victoria Park on Sunday afternoon.
Vinay Patahania scored a half century for Bay of Plenty Indian Sports Club in their victory in the final of the IPL Twenty20 at Victoria Park on Sunday afternoon.
Tournament newcomers BOPISC Tigers signalled their arrival with victory in the 3rd annual Air Chathams IPL Twenty20 competition at Victoria Park yesterday.
Competing against nine other Indian cricket clubs from around the North Island, the Bay of Plenty side won through to the afternoon championship game with the Sher-E-Punjab Sports Club from Hastings, on the back of strong bowling, led by the tournament MVP in LS Bhatti, who took ten wickets in four games.
Local side the Wicket Warriors would ultimately finish sixth after being much more competitive than they were the previous year, while also reinforced in the batting department by Whanganui Collegiate 1st XI player Kashish Nauhria, who broke into the Air Chathams Wanganui representative team during the first half of the summer.
Rotak Warriors batsman Robin Arora departs after being bowled by Lovedeep Singh of the Wicket Warriors Whanganui on Saturday morning.
Nauhria stroked one of the tournament's six half centuries and with 128 runs overall was one of the leading scorers.
The top batsman for the tournament was Sunny Singh (Jassi) from Wellington Sikh Sports Club, who scored a collective 185 runs from four games, including the highest score of 77 against the New Plymouth Stars in his team's victorious playoff for third.
Wellington Sikh Sports Club's Sunny Singh (Jassi) receives the batsmen's voucher from Whanganui White Fern Jessica Watkin on Sunday.
Wicket Warriors started on Saturday morning with a 19 run loss to the Rohtak Warriors from Wellington, but rebounded in the afternoon with an impressive 63-run win over the Petone Strikers, scoring 141-7 and then bowling their opposition out for 78.
Wicket Warriors' Akesh Pillai tries for a catch against Rotak Warriors.
Heavy rain overnight reduced yesterday morning's round to 15-over slogs, and the Warriors lost to the Wellington Sikh Sports Club by 14 runs, finishing on 104-7 when chasing 118-7.
Both the Tigers and Sher-E-Punjab were more successful in their games with the Wellington clubs.
Tigers defeated Petone Fateh on Saturday morning, then picked up a quick nine wicket win over Hutt District CC Super Challengers.
Yesterday morning saw Tigers hold off the Rohtak Warriors by 13 runs to be top qualifier.
On Saturday, Sher-E-Punjab beat Petone Strikers by eight wickets in another quick chase, then worked their way to a five wicket win over the Wellington Sikh Sports Club.
Yesterday morning's rain reduced games brought a hiccup as they were beaten by Petone Fateh in the second-to-last over by five wickets, but overall net run rate was still enough to see them through to the championship game.
In the final, the Tigers laid down the gauntlet with an imposing 184-4, led by their skipper Vinay Patahania opening and scoring 59 off 35 balls, followed by Lovely Sandhu (42) and Bhatti, who was unbeaten on 44 in just 21 balls.
In reply, Sher-E-Punjab struggled through to the 18th over when they were dismissed for 82 in a heavy 102-run loss.
Manjinder Singh scored 27 at the top of the order but no-one could stay with him, as Bhatti took the last wicket to finish with 5-15, the best bowling figures of the tournament.
In their playoff for fifth, the Wicket Warriors lost to the Petone Fateh by four wickets, making 112-8 before Fateh reached 116-6 in the 17th over.
Final Placings 1. BOPISC Tigers; 2. Sher-E-Punjab Sports Club; 3. Wellington Sikh Sports Club; 4. New Plymouth Stars; 5. Petone-Riverside CC Fateh; 6. Wicket Warriors Whanganui; 7. Hutt District CC Super Challengers; 8. Rohtak Warriors; 9. Auckland Indian Sports Club; 10. Petone-Riverside CC Strikers.
