Logwin Ndovu were left ruing the dropped catches they were down by 14 runs to Kifaru Chargers as the Maniwa Cup Twenty20 tournament continued at the Nairobi Gymkhana grounds on Sunday.
Ndovu skipper Nitin Arvind said the six catches his side dropped after being asked to bowl was the big difference between his side opening their winning account or starring an elimination in the second edition of the four teams event.
“We were poor on the field and at the end of it we ended up chasing 180 to win. If we have held those catches, it's obvious we would be talking about something different.
All said and done, that has happened and we are playing with the fate of others to see if we have any chance,” Arvind said after his side was restricted to 165 for 6 in the allotted 20 overs.
Raj Shetty was the star batsman for Kifaru with 60 off 33 balls which included three sixes and six fours. He came in the middle when the board was on 47 for 3 after the skipper had been trapped lbw for 22 after seven overs.
He went on to share a fifth wicket stand of 78 with Vijay Kumar that got the scores to 125 with five overs to go.
After the dismissal of Kumar, Shetty continued with his impressive knock to get his side to a respectable total after putting on tail end stands with Lenson D’Souza (16) and Tamish Sharma (10).
In reply, Ndovu had the best start they would have wished for in such a target only to fall in the middle.
Openers Anand Ranganathan was the most brutal in the opening parir that yielded 56 from 5.5 overs with a 26 balls 37.
He pounced on Kifaru bowlers with much ease turning his opening partner Narayana Prasad into a spectator.
From 56 for 0 after 5.4 overs, Ndovu found themselves to 68 for 3 three overs later thanks to Kumar’s triple scalps.
Phillp Richard and Moorthy tried to salvage the chase with a fourth wicket stand of 31 but as soon as the pair was broken in the 14th over, the run rate kept on surging despite Jolet Abraham’s unbeaten 33 off 17 balls.
Kumar ended his brilliant bowling show of the day with 3 for 21.
