Ndovus stand in Strikers' path to Swaminarayan ProT20 semis

The first round of the Swaminarayan ProT20 tournament ends Wednesday, with Purple Dot Ndovus hoping to register their only win of the competition by beating Mahadev Strikers.

It will be the 15th match of the six-team tournament taking place at Shree Cutchi Leva Patel ground in Nairobi at night.

Curtains fall on the two-week event on Saturday.

Ndovus are already out of the title race since they are winless in four matches.

Trouncing Strikers – a task expected to be tough since they are also keen on qualifying for the semi-finals - will but just be a consolation win for Ndovus. Only the top four teams qualify for the semi-finals.

Hari Om Titans and Mombasa Cement Giants have booked slots to the semi-finals after garnering eight and six points respectively from five matches each.

It was Mavericks who inflicted the first misery on Ndovus when they won their October 30 clash by 17 runs. Three days later, Ndovus lost by 14 runs to Giants.

Warriors complicated matters for Ndovus with a nine-wicket victory on Saturday, before Titans extinguished their semi-finals hopes with a 41-run win the following day.

“Of course we are looking to get our first win. We want to play according to our game plan,” said Ndovus’ captain Rushab Patel regarding their Wednesday clash against Strikers.

He singled out failing to jell in time as a team, failing to establish strong batting partnerships and picking single runs instead of doubles as some of the factors that have contributed to their poor performance in the tournament.

But he said the tournament has been of great impact to their careers since they have learnt a lot from English all-rounder Owais Shah who was drafted into the team.

“He (Shah) introduced to us different aspects of playing T20 cricket. From him, we have learnt that it is not all about getting boundaries but about reading the game, understanding the situation and playing according to that,” said Patel.

Strikers goes into Wednesday's match on the back of their 23-run loss to Giants Monday night. That loss denied Strikers the chance to tie at the top with Titans on eight points at the end of the first round since they were the only team left with two matches ahead of the clash.

Giants’ opener Mohit Jihawa, was crowned the man-of-the-match in the encounter after he top-scored with 72 runs from 43 balls, also taking three wickets in four overs. The win which took Giants' points tally to six saw them join Titans in the semi-finals stage.

The winner in Tuesday's clash between Mavericks and Warriors was expected to be the third team to make it to the penultimate stage of the competition since both sides were tied on four points ahead of the match.

Should Strikers defeat Ndovus on Wednesday, they will become the fourth team to qualify for the semi-finals since they will also be on six points.

But should Strikers fall to Ndovus, the team with a better run rate between them and the loser in the match between Mavericks and Warriors will be the one that will clinch the last semi-finals slot.

The semi-finals matches will be held Thursday and Friday.