The bowlers struck back this week after a high scoring first weekend at the Indonesian Cricket League, the country’s first franchise based T20 tournament. The weekend saw Jakarta Knightriders surge ahead with two wins and first wins for Daehan Super Kings & K2 Kings.
Apacs Warriors would have felt good about their decision to put Jakarta Knightriders in to bat after winning the toss, when they got rid of the openers for just 18 runs. That would be the last source of joy for them on a hot Saturday as both the marquee Knightriders players, Vivek Nair & Pallav Malhotra got together to put on a scorching 133 run partnership for the 3rdwicket. A few late order wickets helped pull things back for the Warriors but chasing 171 to win would need their batsmen to fire.
Superb miserly spells by the two Indonesian stars Desandri Saputra & Anjar Tadarus where they conceded only 11 runs in 5 overs meant that the Warriors needed something special from their batsmen. Except for Dwarakanath Naidu, none of the Warriors batsmen could get into double figures as Hashmatullah Hussaini & Aditya Khurana claimed 3 wickets apiece to bowl out the Warriors for just 83 runs.
