Samaj ‘A’ stuns leaders Kanbis ‘A’ in NPCA 50-overs league thriller

Kanbis ‘A’ Team continues to ride on the crest of a wave despite a narrow 1-wicket home loss to visiting Shree Cutchi Leva Patel Samaj (SCLPS A) on Match Day 4 of Nairobi Provincial Cricket Association (NPCA) 50-Overs League.

Kanbis A clung onto the summit of the competition, but only just. The Eastleigh giants are tied on 12-points with Swamibapa A, Nairobi Gymkhana A, Sir Ali A and Ruaraka A but retained their place on the log’s apex for the second weekend running on Net Run Rate (of 2.468).

Eastleigh High have over time manifested a reputation of a slaughter-house for its visitors but not until giant-killers Samaj came calling.

Kanbis A went into match-day 4 minis two of its finest batsmen, Rakep Patel and skipper Dhiren Gondaria, but set an incredible target of 328 for 6 in 50.0 overs when put to bat by hard-fighting visitors Samaj A. The Kanbis duo is away in Entebbe, Uganda representing Kenya at the 2025 edition of Pearl of Africa T20 Cricket Series.

The drama began when Kanbis A’s opener Pushpak Kerai smacked a century setting the tone for a high-scoring thriller thus piling immense pressure on the victors.

But giant-killers Samaj A bounced back with an impressive 332 for 9 in 50.0 overs to carry the day contrary to all expectations.

Sachin Bhudia who was surprisingly dropped for the Uganda series once again proved his importance in the batting department with a brilliant 97 runs off 91 balls.

He was involved in a 170 runs partnership with Pushpak which laid the foundation for a huge total of 328 runs for the loss of 6 wickets in 50 overs.

However, SCLPS A were off to a flier despite losing wickets with valuable contributions from opener Aditya Vekaria scoring 68 runs off 86 deliveries. The captain Niraj Patel then held his nerve to guide his team through a tense chase with a brilliant unbeaten 92 runs off 91 balls to lead his side to a famous victory.

Immediate former champion Ruaraka A also dealt T20 Champions Swamibapa ‘A’ a 1-wicket blow at Ruaraka Sports.

Neelakash Ravindra Tambe’s batting prowess of 78 off 77 balls saw hard-fighting Swamibapa A play second fiddle to immediate former champions Ruaraka A. Swamibapa played minus three of its key players Sachin Gill, Vraj Patel and Peter Koech but still put up a good fight to lose to Ruaraka by  1-wicket.

Rushab Patel won the toss and elected to bat first and led from the front scoring a brilliant half century (56 runs off 60 balls) ably supported by Onkar Jadhav 65 runs and Yash Chavan with unbeaten 78 runs.

However, the absence of their senior bowlers was felt as the inexperienced bowling attack fought hard but couldn’t cross the line in a very tense match at Ruaraka.

Meanwhile, week 1 and 2  leaders Nairobi Gymkhana ‘A’ are back in the grove following a 7-wicket advantage over Ngara Sports Club A, rekindling hopes of winning the 50-overs NPCA title in 2025.

Another notable result though was Stray Lions’ maiden win of the season at the “Lions Den” in Peponi.

The Lions’ spirited fielding performance earned them an exhilarating 9-wicket victory over visiting Kenya Kongonis A Team, marking their first-ever win of the NPCA 50-Overs League 2025 season.

Lions’ opening pair of Sagar Mallepati (10 off 17 balls) and Kavi Dosaja (32 off 18 balls) showcased great skill and determination as stand-in skipper Aman Gandhi finished off the job with just 4 off 3 balls, thanks to the rapid collapse of Kongonis’ top and middle orders; which saw man-of-the-match Patil Atharv (5) and Hiren Varaiya (3) rack-up a combined total of eight wickets!

Stray Lions opener Kavi Dosaja was all smiles and here is what he had to say about his team’s maiden win of the season: “I thought our bowlers did a fantastic job, especially our overseas player Atharv Patil and the reliable Amish Amin. We backed it up with some great fielding across the board. Our spinners wrapped up the tail nicely, led with skill and experience by Hiren Varaiya and Kavin.”

Kavi continued: “The chase was pretty straightforward, our plan was to get the runs quickly to help our net run rate, and personally, it felt good to spend some time on the crease and get a few runs under my belt.”