• Stray Lions, who tie with Kanbis on 36 points, also have an outside chance and the hope of both teams is for Ruaraka to lose their remaining two matches.
• Experts predict a high-scoring encounter from both side's run-hungry batsmen, but Kanbis' skipper Dhiren Gondaria believes it's a critical balancing act between scoring and winning the encounter.
Image: FILE
Ruaraka Sports Club A side will be declared the Nairobi Provincial Cricket Association (NPCA) Super Division 50-Over League Champions should they decimate Kanbis A at the latter's backyard on Sunday.
A win against Kanbis will hand the indefatigable Thika Road troops an unassailable 48-point mark with only one matchday to spare in the eight-team top tier league.
Both teams’ parade some of the country's most prolific batsmen and it will be interesting to see just how it pans out at Kanbis' Eastleigh High School backyard.
Experts predict a high-scoring encounter from both side's run-hungry batsmen, but Kanbis' skipper Dhiren Gondaria believes it's a critical balancing act between scoring and winning the encounter.
Dhiren said: "It's a must-win situation if we harbour any chance of retaining the title. We will give it our best and see how it goes."
Sachin Gill thinks it will be hard for any team to stop Ruaraka’s title aspirations at this juncture.
Stray Lions, who tie with Kanbis on 36 points, also have an outside chance and the hope of both teams is for Ruaraka to lose their remaining two matches.
However, thereafter, the Net run-rate comes into play, and Ruaraka still have an edge so far, unless things get really murky for them at the end. The Lions will host Swamibapa at Nairobi Jaffrey’s.
The spotlight will be on Stray Lions' overseas star Subham Jadhav as he chases the coveted 1,000 runs mark for the season. Subham has so far scored 830 runs in 12 innings.
Swamibapa, on the other hand, have had an inconsistent and disappointing season and will be looking for a better performance from their batsman to finish the season on a high.
The batting and fielding department has been a disappointment this season, costing them some crucial matches. While Kanbis A and Ruaraka A will be fighting for points at Eastleigh ground, their B sides will be at Ruaraka for the NPCA Division One title.
The League statistics for Super Division released by NPCA this week show the dominance of Ruaraka and Kanbis batsmen in the top 10 run-getters.
Gill ( 613 ), Pushkar Sharma ( 703 ), Gondaria ( 549 ) and Rakep Patel ( 546 ) are the top performers.
Kanbis will peg their hopes on Gondaria, Sachin Bhudia and Patel. Gill and his fellow Ruaraka pro, Pushkar Sharma, hope to extend the good partnership they have enjoyed in recent times.
"Pushkar and Maxwell Swaminathan have played brilliant innings. Pushkar has been in good form lately and it’s been a good effort for us to chase down totals easily. If you consider how Ruaraka has been performing over the past one and a half years, you'll concur with me that the boys have been in top form," said Gill.
"We have a team that everyone would like to beat since we have been the top-performing team for the past year. We lost the 2022 title by a whisker, but this time round, we are not leaving anything to chance”
Asked about the Ruaraka-Kanbis fixture, he went on: "If we win our match on Sunday, we are home and dry but if we lose, we will have another chance in our last match."
In another Super Division encounter, Obuya Cricket Academy A host Shree Cutchi Leva Patel Samaj at Lenana School while Sikh Union A visit Nairobi Gymkhana.
Division One also has some mouthwatering matches lined up with Stray Lions B and Swamibapa B clashing at Jamhuri High.
Leaders Kenya Kongonis A have a date with Samaj B side at Cutchi Leva while Goan Institute A will take on Sikh Union B at the latter's backyard.
In Division 2, Obuya B and Kongonis B will face off at Nairobi Club while Wolves Cricket Club B and Swamibapa Development have a date at Goan Institute.