Mekava CC 115/6 in 10 overs (Hisham 62, S Krishnan 14, Fairouse Ashraf 2/18) beat Kunzima 80 in 9.1 overs (Fairouse Ashraf 21, Krishna Das 3/4, Akhil 2/12) by 35 runs.
Before the knockouts kicked off, they were the last team to qualify for the play-offs, they played eliminator and won, then they played qualifier and knocked the table-toppers out, and now today they played the final and won the trophy. Yes, it has been quite a turn around for the Mecava CC, their tale has been full of twist and turns, no one gave them chance before today, and they have surprised us all to win the GEC Premeir League.
Mecava CC won the toss and elected to bat first, they posed 115 in their 10 overs but Kunzima's chase was looking nowhere near the target from the outset. Their fall-of-wickets started in the second over and ended as soon as they were bowled out for 80 in 9.1 overs, leaving Abhiram and Ashraf no one was even able to reach the double-figure mark. When chasing 116 in 60 balls your couple of batsmen have to play atleast a 40-odd-runs innings to take your team to the verge of win, but none of the Kunzima batsmen was able to take the onus today. Talking about the bowling, Krishna Das was sensational as he scalped the opening duo and gave Kunzima the initial blows, then middle order ran itself out as there were three run-outs in the middle of the innings for Kunzima. Towards the end, Ashraf rose some hopes when he hit two sixes in the sixth over but it was too late by then, eventually he was caught off the bowling of S Krishnan who took two wickets for 30 runs. Akhil also took couple of wickets and conceded just 12 runs in his two overs. Kunzima were bowled out for 80 and handed the GEC Premier League to Mekava CC.
Mekava CC's innings also did not started on a great note, they lost Shuhaib on the score of 16, but Hisham held one end, he was going good and hitting every bowler out of the park, he scored 62 which contained seven fours and three maximums. In the middle order, there were little but valuable contributions from the bat of S Krishnan and Akhil, Sreejith went unbeaten on 10, it was Hisham who batted till the ultimate over and his innings helped the side to score 115 runs in ten overs. From the Kunzima, Ashraf was pick of the bowlers, his figures read 3-0-18-2, Sidharth and Bimal Sunny also took a wicket each.
GEC Premier League, the tournament which commenced on 15 January, has been a treat for Government Engineering College, we witnessed many good performances to remember and to talk about. The most talked topic is the Champions' tale, where they were seemed to be a minnow side before play-offs, and after that they outplayed everyone and emerged as winners. Hope we see the same quality of cricket and enthusiasm in the next season as well. With that, I, Anurag will take your leave, goodbye.!