With just one game left in the league stages of the Indonesian Cricket League, the battle for the one remaining spot in the playoffs is still to be decided. Jaguar Punjab XI raced into contention for this spot with two big wins in this weekend’s games. Crickingdom Lions made it into the playoffs on account of a better run-rate and Apacs Warriors need to win big in their last game against the unbeaten Daehan Smashers in order to edge ahead of the Jaguars.

Jaguar Punjab XI took on Yadavas Archean Tigers in the first game of the weekend on Saturday. Faheem Butt continued his dream run with the ball as he ripped open the Tigers batting with a four-wicket haul. Rohit and Jagdeep Singh also chipped in to have the Tigers in deep trouble at 34 for 7. The young Fernando Banunaek showed tremendous grit as his unbeaten 25 helped the Tigers reach 91 before they were bowled out.

Nitin Sharma blazed away while Hanan Khalid held strong at the other end as the Jaguars started well in their chase for a low target. Fernando Banunaek created a brief flutter with a couple of wickets and Muhaddis bowled his four overs for just five runs, but Hanan Khalid hung around long enough to take the Jaguars to a six-wicket win.

The Tigers came back to take on the unbeaten Daehan Smashers in the first game on Sunday and lost their skipper early. Gede Darma Arta sparked a brief revival but Keyur Moradia and Kirubasankar combined well to reduce the Tigers to 53 for 6. The Tigers lower order had to chip in once again as they took their team to 115 in 20 overs.

Anjar Tadarus was in a punishing mood and he got support from Keyur Moradia and Hariharasudhan to take the Smashers to a comfortable win with seven wickets and five overs in hand and in the process extended their team’s unbeaten run.

Jaguar Punjab XI then faced off against TKCC Royals in a crucial clash and were sent in to bat. Sandeep got among the wickets early and the Jaguars were soon 15 for 3, but Hanan Khalid kept one end up to restrict the damage. His departure sparked another collapse as Gema Fajar was in the midst of a dream spell as he capture three wickets for just five runs in his four overs. The wicket-keeper Srini Govindharaj was kept busy having snapped up five catches and despite a brief resistance by skipper Karanjit Singh, the Jaguars could only manage 93 runs.

TKCC Royals would have fancied their chances of chasing down 93 despite playing with only nine players and were off to a slow but steady start. The introduction of Abhay Sharma turned the game on its head as he snapped up five wickets for just eight runs in three overs to spark a monumental collapse as TKCC lost seven wickets for just 17 runs and were bowled out for 43.

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