Independence Cup T20 gets more exciting

| Friday September 24, 2010 00:00

Tonight's game is set to be a nail-biting clash between last champions Gujarat XI and the team they beat to win the title Dare Devils. Gujarat XI captain Imran Pathan believes it will be a close match with his Dare Devils' opposite, Dinesh Chandra asserting that he will put his strongest side as it is a do or die match for them. 

Shekhar Goel, captaining the powerful Eagles against Spicy XI, regards the games as a build-up for his team as it prepares for the knock out stage. Altaf Raja, captain of the United Gymkhana XI says that their game against Mazars will be mainly to improve their net run rate.

Last Sunday saw a major upset when Pioneers beat their arch rivals Dare Devils by 93 runs. Moghul regained their supremacy by beating Hyderabad and Lankasia XI in back to back matches while Choppies trounced Gaborone West XI by 70 runs to inch closer to qualifying for the next round.

Outstanding performers for the day were young Ajanthan Sridaran of Pioneers who took seven wickets against Dare Devils and Karan Kapoor of Moghul who bagged five wickets against Hyderabad and scored 61 runs against Lankasia XI.  Botswana's national opening batsmen Fazal Rana of Moghul and Pritesh Vashi of Choppies were impressive in their matches. Rana scored a scintillating 52 off 28 balls against Lankasia XI and Pritesh Vashi scored 62 off 45 balls.

In the midweek games, JB Sports beat Mazars by nine runs in a cliff hanger, Caterplus beat Gaborone West XI by 55 runs and Royal Sports got the better of their arch rivals, Lobatse, by five wickets.