The 23rdedition of the Jakarta International 6s cricket tournament was held at the Cibubur cricket ground over the weekend with 10 teams participating including teams from India & Singapore. Raju CC from Hyderabad in India once again emerged champions after defeating Singapore Selular in the finals.
29 games were played across two days in the fast-paced 6s cricket format with the ball boys kept busy as more than 430 boundaries were hit including a whopping 123 Sixes. Asiatic Smashers emerged as the lone Indonesian team to make it to the semi-finals after having beaten Ceylon CC in a super over which was needed to decide the winner as their game ended in a thrilling tie courtesy of a last ball six by Vimal Nair.
Earlier, the fully Indonesian team, Yadavas Chairos Tigers, who had enjoyed a very good opening day, fell short in their quarterfinals game against the Asiatic Smashers thanks to superb knocks from Pallav Malhotra & Vivek Nair.Â
Singapore Selular comfortably beat Singapore CC in the first of the semi-finals as Surya Narayanan & Vijay Babu comfortably chased down the target of 49 in just 3 overs after the Selular bowlers had done well to restrict Singapore CC to a low score of 48.
In the second semi-finals, the Raju CC batting might was on display as Taran Singh & Sandeep Rajan clobbered the Asiatic Smashers to all parts of the ground as Raju CC piled up a massive score of 92 in their 5 overs. Vivek Nair & Pallav put up a gallant fight, but 92 was always going to be too much to even contemplate to chase.
Going by past evidence, the finals was expected to be a one-sided affair for Raju CC, but Singapore Selular had other ideas as they started brilliantly conceding only 29 runs in the first 3 overs. Sandeep Rajan laid into Mukesh Khetan in the 4thover and a boundary of a no ball in the final over costed Selular a massive 9 runs which would prove to be the difference in the end.
Selular Singapore, needing 68 to win, also started well with the bat as they picked up 16 runs in the first over. Vinay Goud & Ronald Rodrigo pulled things back brilliantly for Raju CC as they conceded just 16 in their 2 overs. 36 runs were needed of the last 2 overs and the Raju skipper, Neeraj gave 12 runs in the 4thover including a fortuitous 4 byes. 24 runs were needed of the last over, but a crucial catch ensured no runs off the first ball. Four sixes were called for, but Rakshan Rai could only manage two as Selular fell short by 4 runs in a cracking finals contest.
The Indonesian boys dominated the individual awards as Ahmad Ramdoni, who had a brilliantly consistent tournament, won both the Best Batsman & MVP awards. Gamantika, also from Yadavas Chairos Tigers took home the Best Bowler award. The award for the most sixes was shared between Taran Singh & Pallav Malhotra. WPP India XI had earlier won the Plate after defeating GMIS CC in the plate finals. Â
