Titans scent glory at Swaminarayan Pro20 tourney

A well-rested Hari Om Titans head into the first semi-finals of the Swaminarayan Pro20 tournament Thursday night, keen to extend their impressive run in the competition and qualify for the final.

Titans’ opponents in the semi-finals will be known Wednesday night after the last first round match between Mahadev Strikers and Purple Dot Ndovus at the Shree Cutchi Leva Patel ground in Nairobi.

A win over bottom-placed Ndovus will see Strikers tie on six points with Mafuko Mavericks and Mombasa Cement who are the other teams waiting in the semi-finals.

In that scenario, the three teams will be separated by their net run rate, with the side placed fourth meeting Titans in the semi-finals from 7:15pm at the same venue.

But a loss to Ndovus whose exit from the competition was confirmed on Sunday after they lost by 41 runs to Titans, means that the team with the better net run rate between Strikers and Warriors will clinch the last semi-finals slot.

Ahead of their clash with Ndovus Wednesday night, Strikers and Warriors were tied on four points.

Titans, who led the first round with eight points from five matches, were last in action on Sunday when they beat Ndovus by 41 runs. They are thus well rested than any other side heading into the penultimate stage of the competition.

They go into the match on the back of an impressive run having won their last four matches in a row.

After their three-wicket loss to Strikers in the opening match of the competition on October 29, Titans beat Mavericks, Warriors and Giants by five runs, six wickets and two wickets respectively.

They completed their superb form with victory over Ndovus. Indian Aezaz Kothariya is one of the top players Titans will be banking on in the semi-finals.

He was the top scorer in Titans clash against Strikers with 73 runs off 36 balls. Kothariya also scored the first century of the tournament when he hit 117 from 48 balls. Against Giants and Ndovus, he did not last long on the crease and it will be of great impact if he gets his groove back in the semi-finals.

Mavericks clinched a semi-finals slot when they beat Warriors by 32 runs on Tuesday night. Dhruvkumar Maisuria was crowned the man-of-the-match on a day when his side Mavericks won the toss and elected to bat first posting 152 all-out in 20 overs of their innings. Warriors were not successful in chasing the target, hitting 120 all-out in 19.2 overs of their innings.

Maisuria bagged the gong after he took three wickets and conceded 25 runs in four overs.

Among his casualties was Warriors' top order and dangerous batsman Shubham Jadhav.