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ow-scoring thrillers seemed the order of the day this last weekend of action before the Lebaran break in the JCA T20 tournament. A big upset win by the young Indonesian Tigers of DKI over TKCC Royals and Bowlers with three bowlers taking four-wicket hauls headlined this weekend’s action.

In the first game on Saturday, after being put in to bat, Eki Antaria (32) and Yeri Rosongna (24) led the Indonesian developmental side DKI Tigers to take control at the half-way stage with a score reading 60/2. However, the defending champions, TKCC Royals fought back well through Sakthi 4/13 and Justin 2/8 to restrict the Tigers to what looked like a below-par score of 99 all-out in 20 overs. In reply, TKCC Royals looked on course to win when Neeraj (27) had taken them to 47/2 after 10 overs.

However, the Tigers fought back really well in the second half to choke and restrict the TKCC Royals to just 96/9 at the end of 20 overs, thus pulling off their second upset win of the tournament. Especially commendable considering most of the Tigers players were fasting.

After that dramatic upset of the defending champions, the second game of the day also promised to be an intense one with the pool-toppers Victorious Secret (VS) taking on Senayan CC, who also had several young Indonesian players. VS won the toss and elected to bat.

They put up an above par total of 153/7 on the board due to some sensible batting by Kirubasankar (38) and some lofty hitting by William Noronha (31). Laxmi Nagesh (3/32) and Mehdi (2 wickets) were the wicket takers for Senayan CC.

In reply, Senayan started cautiously and were still in the hunt at 64/0 after 10 overs, though a required run rate of 9-plus did look daunting. Their job was made impossible due to extraordinary bowling by Rajeev Rajeswaran (4/15) and good support by Viplow Singh (2/20). Some late hitting by Hussein (40) and Muhaddis (24) was good to watch but never enough to catch VS and Senayan finished on 133/6 in 20 overs to lose by 20 runs.

Emerio Dragons chose to bat first against Ceylon Cavaliers in the first game on Sunday and they needed their star player Maneesh Dubey (31 from just 19 balls) to really step up to the plate after Govind Sodani (36 from 45 balls) had given them a solid platform. Emerio ended their innings on a sub-par 128/5 in their 20 overs. Faheem (1/19) and Mufasil (1/22) were the main bowlers for Ceylon.

Maneesh then returned to shine with the ball as well and his 2/10 along with a fabulous 3/7 by Jegan and a tight 2/9 by Vinayak Kurtkoti ensured that Ceylon Cavaliers were bundled out for a paltry 62 after 16 overs. Mufasil (23) provided the sole resistance for Ceylon.

In the fourth game, rain interrupted what was building up to be a thriller. Harish Tiwari with support from Taimur Khan got Menara Devils off to a good start after they chose to bat first. Some superb bowling by Marten Eddy (4/13) with good support from Ansar Subramanian (2/19) and Corbon Loughnan (2/26) had Jaguar CC fighting back, but a fighting knock from Neetesh Pansare (21/18 balls) helped Menara Devils finish at 125/9.

Sunil Samtani’s 25 (from 25 balls) helped Jaguar get to a par score of 68/3 after 10 overs, but then some tight bowling by Mohit (2/13), Mayank (2/21) and Keyur and some very good fielding leading to 3 run-outs left Jaguar CC wobbling, but still in the hunt at 91/7 at the end of 16 overs, when unrelenting rain made no more play possible and Menara Devils emerged the victors on account of a better run-rate.

Victorious Secret and Jaguar CC top their respective Pools as the T20 tournament takes a three-week break for Lebaran.