Rikesh Hirani proved his worth for Kanbis Tigers with a disciplined bowling performance that helped his side restrict the host Kongonis to just 158 off 41.5 overs in the East Africa Cup match played at the Nairobi Club on Sunday.
His figures of 3 for 30 off nine overs coupled with two wickets a piece for Dishant Mehta and Lucas Oluoch ensured Kongonis never got partnerships going at all. Alex Obanda (37), Collins Obuya and Henry Rudd both with (24) were the only Kongonis batsmen to cross the 20-run mark.
Kongonis attempted to apply pressure on the Tigers from the off-set removing Hirani for 1 but a second wicket partnership of 53 runs between youngster Dhirendra Gondaria and Harish Vekaria with identical scores of (34) saw the Tigers take control of the match.
The tigers did lose further wickets in the run-chase but the tally proved too little as they eased to a four wicket win with 23.1 overs to spare.
In Mombasa Rift Valley Rhinos gained their revenge over Coast Pekee who beat them on Saturday by 81 runs thanks to Peter Kituku’s 45 and Dipesh Bhandari’s 40 which helped them post 217 for 9 and then bowled Pekee out for 136.
In Entebbe, Warriors downed rivals Knights by 4 wickets, chasing 112 they got home with 23.3 overs to spare. Charles Waiswa’s 4/19 was the pick of the bowlers.
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