Super Kings leave it late to bag slot

Shanmugavel Sachin (left) in their match against Mount Kenya Chargers. [Jonah Onyango, Standard]

The South India Cricket tournament champions Coast Super Kings survived a late scare from Masai Mara Tuskys before booking a ticket to the final.

The champions were good with a three-wicket victory in a closely contested match at the Nairobi Gymkhana grounds at the weekend.

Masai Mara, who elected to bat first, set a target of 126 for nine in 20 overs through contributions of 32 by Nitin Arvind that included 3 boundaries and one six off 30 balls. Shijas Ahmed then added 31 and two boundaries.

Naveen Bhopal was the main destroyer of the Coast Super Kings' batting order with three wickets to his name.

Later, the Coast batting order found themselves in trouble after Nitin Arvind grabbed four quick wickets but was saved by a winning partnership of youngstar Sachin Shanmugavel and Varun Prakash on the eighth wicket as they posted 14 and 7 runs not out.

The main contributors for Coast were Praven Rao 39 and Anand Ranganathan 29. 

Coast stars will meet Mount Kenya, who qualified last weekend, in the final on Sunday.