Indonesia’s first franchise-based cricket league kicked off this weekend with a bang with Apacs Warriors & Jakarta Knight Riders prevailing in closely fought contests.
The rapid growth of cricket across the Indonesian archipelago warranted a premier tournament that allows the best of the best from across the country to compete and learn from each other. Hence, Persatuan Cricket Indonesia & Jakarta Cricket association got together to set up the ICL, the first of its kind cricket tournament in Indonesia, with 8 franchises vying for top honors.
The franchises bid among themselves in a player auction to select from more than 230 players which included more than 100 Indonesian cricketers. The selection in the auction of more than 45 Indonesian players including cricketers from Kalimantan, NTT, Bali, West Java, Jakarta & Central Java through a merit-based auction reflects the depth of Indonesian cricketing talent, said Abhiram Singh Yadav, the Vice-chairman of PCI.
The JCA is extremely proud to be a part of this historic tournament as it provides a great platform for development of cricket in the country, said Avakash Lohia, the President of the JCA.
K2 Kings kicked off the tournament by electing to bat first after winning the toss against Apacs Warriors. Their skipper, Harish Tiwari, set the tone for a high scoring tournament with a towering six of the just the 3rdball. While he kept up the big hitting, Gaurav Pathak & Govind Sodani combined well to knock over batsmen at the other end. The league’s top wicket taker, Vipin Chawla, then trapped Harish in front with the score at 89, which provided to be the death knell for the Kings as they folded for 117 runs.
Despite losing their skipper early, Dwarakanath Naidu & Ranjan Shankar put on a splendid partnership to take the Warriors home comfortably with 6 wickets & two overs to spare. Abhishek Sharma was the Kings best bowler for the day.
