Sir Ali targets to retain top league spot against hosts Swamibapa
The top two cricket teams - Sir Ali Muslim Club and Swamibapa - are bracing for a face-off in the Nairobi Provincial Cricket Association (NPCA) tie at Nairobi Jafferys on Sunday.
Sir Ali will be looking to cement their top spot while the hosts would want to creep into the first two spots with a win before they come up against favourites Kanbis in their next match.
The encounter is a match-up between the two sides that have started the season on a positive footing.
Sir Ali had easy wins over Cutchi Leva and Nairobi Gymkhana while Swamibapa beat Sikh Union and Cutchi Leva to make it two out of two.
In both Sir Ali wins, Ahmad Hassan has been unbeaten with two match-winning knocks. In the opening match, he scored 71 as Sir Ali chased 196 with 11 overs to spare.
Last weekend he went a notch higher with an unbroken knock of 143 as Sir Ali posted 280 for 6 at Nairobi Gymkhana.
Hassan, one of the four overseas players that Sir Ali acquired for this season was also involved in a record 213 runs wicket stand for the sixth wicket with Eugene Maneno.
With these two knocks, he would definitely be the target of Swamibapa bowling which is likely to be led by seam duo Nehemiah Odhiambo and Peter Koech.
Visitor’s batting
Youngster Jignesh Hirani has also been in good form with the bat and it is interesting to see how he will come up the visitor’s batting.
While Sir Ali have had something to celebrate about their overseas batsman, Swamibapa are yet to write anything about their two overseas players Karan Trivedi and Krish Patel.
However, Trivedi has failed to transform his good starts into good scores while Krish has been poor both with the bat and behind the stumps. Last weekend he scored only six runs from 38 balls on top of two dropped catches and misfields.
At Ruaraka, the hosts will be looking to bounce back from the opening loss to Gymkhana when they welcome Kanbis.
