Dynamites Al-Kharj, Bashers Nofa, Rajbagh Royals win Halyalla KPL openers
RIYADH: The Halyalla Kashmir Premier League (KPL) kicked off at the weekend with underdog Rajbagh Royals Riyadh pulling off an upset in one of three first week matches.
The day’s proceedings began with a match between Downtown Dynamites Al-Kharj and Anantnag Avengers Abha, with the Dynamites winning by four wickets.
Batting first, AAA could only manage 115 all out with the top score at 52 off 27 balls by Ishfaq Qadir. Aarif Malik took three wickets while conceding only 15 runs in four overs. In reply, DDK chased the target down in 18.3 overs losing six wickets. Aarif Malik was the highest scorer from DDK. He scored 57 in 39 balls.
Man of the match was Aarif Malik and the performer of the match award winner was Ishfaq Qadir.
In the second match, Baramullah Bashers Nofa won against Srinagar Strikers Jeddah by 11 runs. BBN won the toss and elected to bat first. BBN managed a decent score of 181 for 6 in the allotted 20 overs.
In reply, SSJ enjoyed a good start courtesy of openers Bilal Wani and Samiullah Najar. Najar scored a quickfire 64 off 35 balls with 8 fours and 3 sixes.
But in the end, other batsmen of SSJ could not keep up with the scoring rate and lost by 11 runs.
Man of the match was Qamar Khan and the performer of the match award went to Samiullah Najar
In the last match, Rajbagh Royals Riyadh posted the first upset of the tournament against Rawlakot Rangers Jubail.
RRR won the toss, decided to bat first and returned a fighting score of 143 runs, with some big hitting in the middle order by Syed Gowher who scored 48 off 27 balls. In reply, RRJ was bundled out for 130.
Leading the way at RRJ was Sohail Latif on 37 off 28 balls.
With the big victory, the lightly regarded Royals are sending a clear message to all that it is not going to be easy when playing against RRR.
Sadat Bashir bowled a wonderful spell by taking one wicket while surrendering just 19 runs in four overs. Also, Sabzar Bhat had a match-winning bowling spell of two wickets for 18 runs in four overs.
Man of the match was Syed Gowher and performer of the match awardee was Tanvir Bhat.
For more details, visit the KPL website at www.kplsaudi.com.