Cricket: Sir Ali edge Gymkhana in T20 Invitational clash

Nairobi Gymkhana A's batsman Harshvardhan Patel in past action. [Jonah Onyango, Standard]

Sir Ali Club yesterday staged an impressive fight to force a seven-run win over the highly-fancied Nairobi Gymkhana in a T20 Invitational Tournament match. 

Brilliant bowling from Gagandeep Singh, Sandip Adole and Harrison Ambani anchored Sir Ali to victory.

Batting first, Sir Ali scored 146 for the loss of eight wickets to set a target of 147 for Gymkhana, who fell short in their innings.

Sir Ali’s opening batsman Hamza Khan top scored for his side with 37 runs off 18 balls before Raj Savala trapped him leg before wicket. 

Vishal Kukade 33 (27) and Zahib Abbas 31 (32) also starred for Sir Ali with the bat.

Martin Okoth and Amish Amin took two wickets each for Gymkhana while Lucas Oluoch, Dominic Wesonga, Siddharth Vijaysingh and Savala took one wicket each.

Okorh led Gymkhana’s chase with 40 runs off 20 deliveries but his effort was not good enough to save his side from defeat. 

Opener Harsh Patel scored 20 but his stay on the crease was cut short when Adole got him caught.

Gagandeep bowled Veer Dave with only one run to his name as Gymkhana’s top and middle orders crumbled.

It was only Okoth of the tail order who stabilised their chase but could not salvage a victory.

In another encounter, Swamibapa beat an inexperienced Stray Lions side by 31 runs.

Stray Lions, who are building a new side found, themselves in trouble when Nehemiah ripped their top order dismissing opener Jay Mehta, Rajiv Sutara and Aman Gandhi for a duck before sending Himanshu Dixit (7) back to the pavilion. 

Batting first, Swamibapa scored 154 for 9 in their overs with Maurice Ouma scoring 74 off 43 balls.

Ouma smashed four boundaries and four sixes but Varun Prakash trapped him leg before.