This weekend the Indonesian Cricket League entered its knock-out phase with four teams battling for the two finalist slots. Ceria Komodos, the league toppers were the first to book the finals spot with an easy win over Daehan Super Kings. Yadavas Chairos Tigers kept their final hopes alive with a close win over Jakarta Knightriders and now face Daehan Super Kings next Sunday to decide the second finalists.
The Ceria Komodos skipper, William Noronha, has been placing his faith on the young Indonesian talent in his team throughout the tournament and they repaid his faith in the knock-out game on Sunday as well.Â
After electing to bat first, the Komodos lost both their openers early to the guiles of Karthigai Deepan. The young Rohan Shirodkar then, played his anchor role to perfection as he stitched partnerships, first with Rajesh Santhanam & then with Danielson Hawoe to take the Komodos to a slightly below-par score of 138 in their 20 overs.
Maneesh Dubey bowled a fabulous opening spell and got rid of the dangerous Srinivasan Govindraj. The dangerous Kirubasankar & Vimal Nair were starting to look ominous when the Maxi Koda changed the complexion of the game in the space of 3 balls. He trapped Kirubasankar in front with a speedy skidder and knocked over Santhosh Kumar of the next ball. He then returned to castle Fachri Nuryadi to claim a well-deserved hat-trick.Vimal Nair tried to bring DSK back into the chase but he holed out to a good catch in the deep and with it disappeared the chances of a DSK win as they eventually lost by 33 runs.
