Masai Mara Tuskers win regular and over-forty divisions of South Indian Premier League

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The Masai Mara Tuskers had two reasons to celebrate as they won the regular and over-forty divisions of the South Indian Premier League after victories over Coast Super Kings in a final played on Sunday at the Ruaraka Sports Club in Nairobi.

In the regular competition, the Masai Mara Tuskers won the toss and opted to bat and scored 161/9 in the allotted 20 overs.

Opening batsman Nithin Arvind top-scored for the Tuskers with 69 runs off 38 balls that included 9 boundaries and 4 maximums. Chanthu Muraleedharan, skipper Prasad Pariyarath, and Joms Joy added double figures.

Vaibhav Naresh and Balu Hariharan took two wickets each.

In reply, the Coast Super Kings, who needed 162 runs to win, provided a late surge inspired by 73 runs from 47 balls by Akshith Sekar that saw them require three runs from the last ball in the match.

An attempt for a boundary was stopped in the field, and while attempting to get two runs to force a super over, Super Kings batsman Mugesh Kumar was run-out, handing the Tuskers a dramatic one-run victory.

Tuskers Regulars Captain Pariyarath was elated with the last-ball victory. “It absolutely feels great after three months of hard work behind the scenes, and that is why we held our nerve in this interesting game that went down to the wire.”

In the over-forty category, Masai Mara Tuskers scored 203/5 with Thanu Moorthi top scoring with 77 from 64.

In reply, they restricted the Coast Super Kings to 183 for 5 to clinch a 20-run victory with captain Girish Chingapurath taking two wickets for the loss of 19 runs.

“Today is a special day for the Tuskers. We have won titles severally, but never done a double as a franchise,” said Chingapurath.

The SIPL is an annual tournament that forms part of the South Indian Cultural Society’s social activities. The other franchises in the tournament were the Mount Kenya Chargers and the Rift Valley Challengers.