Kerala Kings Crowned Champions of Inaugural T10 Cricket League in Sharjah
An overflowing Sharjah stadium and a highly spirited 16000+ fans broke the sound barrier and set the tone for two exciting semi-finals leading to the ideal final confrontation between the Kerala Kings and the Punjab Legends, coincidentally representing two large segments of the expat contingents from India and Pakistan.
In the end, some scintillating batting from Stirling and Morgan took Kerala Kings to a royal triumph to crown themselves champions of the first ever T10 league tournament.
The score of 120 by the Punjabi Legends looked puny as the twosome battered the bowling with a strike rate of 325 and simply walked away with the game, scoring 92 in the first 30 balls.
From then on it was a romp in the park and the twosome toyed with the bowling making the owners happy campers indeed. The trophy was presented by Heera Group Chairman Dr. Nowhera Shaikh.
In the first semi even as Maratha Arabians floundered and fell three short of 100 runs the Kerala Kings made easy work of getting in sight of the finish line before giving away four wickets and rising hopes for the other side before making it with four balls to spare.
Then came the Pakhtoons and in a charge led by crowd pleaser Shahid Afridi and Ahmed Shehzad raked up 129 runs leaving the Punjab Legends an uphill task. The goal seemed distant until Luke Ronchi and Shoaib Malik collared the bowling and sent the Pakhtoons on a leather hunt. Punjab Legends won comfortably by nine wickets.
