The match began with the teams evenly poised at 12 points and needing a win to seal a spot in the play-offs. Emerio Dragons won the toss and chose to bat. Senayan Lions bowlers, Raj and Hussein, kept a tight leash on the proceedings while picking up the key wicket of Dwarakanath Naidu who holed out to deep midwicket. Ajay 35 (44) and Govind ensured no further damage was done and kept scoring at a steady rate to reach 60/1 at the half-way stage. Angga Lucky’s (4/32) introduction & the desire by the Dragons to up the run-rate, saw a flurry of wickets. Maneesh Dubey (21) continued his good run & his quickfire knock helped Emerio end up at 125/9 which would seem to be a defendable score on a thick GMIS outfield. Ashit 2/17 & Manicavasagan 2/35 were the other bowling performers for the Lions.
Senayan Lions openers, Muhaddis (31) and Hussein, started off briskly scoring 37 from the first 3 overs. The introduction of Kartik (1/6 off 3 overs) put a stop to the run-flow as Emerio clawed their way back by picking up the openers. Sujay played a good supporting hand and Emerio managed to keep Senayan to 67-2 by the 10-over break. After the break, Prem (19) & Ramdoni stepped up the gas and the Lions looked in control of the chase. But Anji (3/16) and Ajay (2/12) shared an excellent bowling partnership to break up Senayan’s middle order and push the asking rate to above 10 by the 16th over. By the end of the match, Senayan could only manage 105/8 in their allotted overs thus handing Emerio the game by 20 runs.
