Punjab Lions roar into semi-finals
By Richard Boxall
The first two quarter final matches in the 2024 BAOFinancial Autumn T20 Cup presented by HurryCurry proved to be a damp squib on Sunday. The morning match had to be postponed on account of the heavy overnight rain, and the afternoon game turned out to be disappointingly one-sided.
Lankan Sports Club had won all four of their group matches in convincing style and were now drawn against one of the runner-up teams, MSN Punjab Lions, who had not shown much evidence so far of being the powerhouse of recent seasons.
The Lankan success this year relied heavily on the good form of their opening batsmen who prior to this game were the two leading run scorers in the competition. But here they were dismissed early by Buddika and Chandana, and the middle order was torn apart by the well-flighted off-spin of Lions captain Tiwari, who took two wickets in his first over and three in his second, finishing with figures of 5-18 from his 4 overs.
Supun supported him well with 2-6 in 3 overs, and Taranjit finished the innings by removing Samudrika, who was the only batter to show the necessary application and technique, shepherding the tail and finishing with 27 out of a miserable total of 64.
Punjab Lions soon rubbed salt into the wound by knocking off the runs without loss inside 8 overs. Mangala led the way with 3 sixes and 4 fours in his 43, with solid support from Nalin, sealing a semi final spot without any problem.
Two remaining group matches were also played, both having equally convincing outcomes. Kipro Tigers of Limassol and New Limassol Moufflons had suffered difficult seasons, both losing all three matches prior to this meeting. After passing 30 for the loss of one wicket, the Tigers fell away to 66 all out, with two wickets each for Salman, Sufian, Manjinder and Amir.
The Limassol Moufflons soon chased their target in less than 9 overs, losing two wickets, both to Diplu, as Hamza hit 30 not out from 14 balls, with three sixes, leaving Kipro holding the wooden spoon.
In the following match the senior Moufflons team clinched top spot in their group with a simple win over Punjabi Kings. Left-arm opening bowler Kerrison was almost unplayable, taking 5-10 (all bowled or LBW), while Noman Rasool took 3-9 as the Kings were bundled out for 68, Ravi top-scoring with 22.
Roman and Rasedul both hit 27 from 11 balls as Moufflons raced to their target in just 31 balls for the loss of one wicket, to set up a quarter final against Markhor, while group runners-up Cyprus Knight Riders will meet Sri Lanka Lion