With 11 games left in the group stages of Hirani Telecom T20 Cup, it is still unclear who will seal the three remaining semi finals spot. Five teams, Kanbis, Kongonis, Ruaraka, Sir Ali and Nairobi Gymkhana are fighting to join Swamibapa, who stormed the last four after bagging 24 points from seven matches.
Kanbis and Ruaraka have 20 points but the latter have played a match less. Kongonis and Sir Ali have 16 points from seven matches. Gymkhana is on the back foot with 12 points but with a match, against Kanbis, in hand.
While Gymkhana and Kongonis must win all their remaining matches to stay in the hunt for a semis spot, Kanbis, Sir Ali and Ruaraka have more room to play with.
Gymkhana play Cutchi Leva today and Kanbis and Ngara tomorrow while Kongonis will need to register victories over Swamibapa and Ruaraka.
Even though the odds seems to be against them, especially, with the unavailability of three of their key players, Gymkhana skipper Lucas Oluoch has made it clear that they will fight to the end.
“We are missing Dominic Wesonga, Karan Kaul and Amish Amin but that will give other players a chance to play and we hope they will play a key role in ensuring that we achieve our target,” Oluoch said.
For Kongonis, they will be gunning for a big win against leaders Swamibapa today to make it through. Kongonis have never beaten Swamibapa and they will have to create history to reach the semis.
But the likes of Rajesh Bhudia (Kanbis), Gurdeep Singh (Sir Ali) and Chandresh Hirani (Ruaraka) have everything to play for in the remaining games. Interestingly, Ruaraka who have had a good run, will take on Kongonis, who also have a slim chance of qualifying tomorrow.
