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Kameng Strikers won the title of the Arunachal Pradesh Premier League, which started on 8th September 2024. Many matches of the group stage got abandoned due to rain, as the matches of this APL were being held in Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Ghaziabad. This year the north side of India has experienced the most rain in monsoon.
Due to the bad weather conditions, the pitch and outfield were mostly wet, which was good for spinners. In the finals of APL, the rain delayed the match by a couple of hours and it was left with only 6 overs at the end.
The Final Showdown of APL (Kameng Strikers vs Siang Sharks)
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Kameng Strikers came to bat first in the finals against Siang Sharks. Abhishek Kaushik and Honey Khari opened from Kameng Strikers. Kaushik got out early by Akhilesh Sahani on his 4th ball caught by Kaushal R Singh who scored 96 runs in his first of this season.
Honey Khari, the left-handed explosive batsman of Kameng Strikers scored 41 off 15 balls, his strike rate was extremely amazing at 273.3. In the 3rd over, Honey smashed 5 balls out of the fence for sixes. He hit consecutive 5 sixes to Ankur Rai then at the end Ankur dismissed him with a LBW decision given by the umpire.
After Khari, Shekhar Sirohi and Abhinav Singh took charge of maximizing the target. They both contributed a total of 34 (20, 14) runs together. Gave a perfect gigantic total to the Saing Sharks who were dominating all the season with no loss in the tournament.
Siang Sharks came to bat with Vardaan Suri and Kaushal R Singh as their openers. Vardaan got out on the very first of the innings while getting beat with the pace of the ball due to the wet pitch, the ball got a tiny pause after pitching and Vardaan played a pre-attempted shot which gave a catch towards the mid-on region and Nagar Nilo caught it without blunder.
In the 1st Over Siang was able to score 10 runs with the help of six hits by Akhilesh Sahani with a lofted shot towards long-off. In the next over they managed to score 14 runs and with the clean hittings of both batsmen, the game was on to chase down 87 runs in 36 balls.
Siang Sharks came out wild with sixteen runs in the next over and they were winning the 2nd phase of the chase. In the 3rd over as well, the momentum was continued with a better run rate and the hard hitters of of Siang made 18 runs. Now Siang needed 29 runs in 12 balls with 9 wickets in hand.
Shekhar Sirohi took the ball and game in his hands for Kameng Strikers by bowling a fantastic over with an expense of just 7 runs and dismissed the dangerous batsman Akhilesh who could have made it all the way more difficult for Kameng to win the match.
Techi Sania, the captain of Siang came out to bat and took 1 run on his first ball then Kaushal too took 1 run at the last ball of the over to keep the strike with himself. Now Siang needed 2 runs in the last over of the finals of APL.
NDR was given the responsibility to bowl the last over and Kaushal was on the strike with a 24 run off 14 balls individual score.
NDR was able to manage the first two balls for just 2 runs and Siang Sharks now separately needed a hit as it was 20 runs needed in 4 balls. Kaushal swung the bat so fast that it top-edged towards the third man and went for a boundary, leaving with 16 runs off 3 balls. Kaushal gets the ball in his hitting arc and dispatches it for a six on the long-off.
The game was about the last two-ball thriller with 10 runs to win, NDR bowled a no-ball which Kuashal was not able to utilize, and took 1 run. With a free hit in the pocket, Siang needed 9 runs off 2 balls, Techi Sania was on the strike and hit it big over the covers but got brilliantly saved by Abhinav Singh.
Siang Sharks were not able to score more than 1 run on the 2nd last ball left them with a formality to face the last ball with 8 runs to win. Kaushal hit the last delivery by NDR towards the covers for a boundary and Kameng Strikers won the title of APL 2024.
Award Ceremony of the APL
The best fielder was from Kameng Strikers who was awarded with Rs 5100 cash prize, The best Wicket-Keeper was rewarded with Rs 5100 as well from Kameng Strikers and the best bowler went to Siang Sharks seamer Sonu R Singh with 7 wickets in just 3 matches and was rewarded with Rs 5100 as well.
The best batsman and player of the tournament were awarded to one player of Siang Sharks i.e. Kaushal R Singh with Rs 5100 for the best batsman and Rs 11,000 for player of the tournament making a total of 162 runs in three matches.
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