BY THE ARUSHA NEWS CORRESPONDENT
Annadil Burhani produced a brilliant all-round performance after winning the toss, outclassing ACC in all departments in the ongoing PowerPack 20-over tournament at the St. Constantine grounds last weekend.
ACC struggled early, losing their top three cheaply. Captain Gurpreet Singh was dismissed in the second over, followed by Sachin Agrawal in the fourth and newcomer Carol in the sixth, with only 30 runs on the board.
Shyam Soni briefly revived the innings after the powerplay, taking 17 runs off Hussein’s seventh over from the Nursery End. However, he was caught at mid-off in the ninth over after scoring 28 runs off just 19 deliveries. His dismissal ended a promising 36-run partnership with Amit and dealt a major blow to ACC’s hopes.
Bhushan and Risabh tried to accelerate alongside Amit, before former captain Parimal added a useful cameo in the slog overs to push ACC to a fighting total of 165/9 after 20 overs.
Chasing 166, Annadil Burhani suffered an early setback when Parimal struck first, removing Hussein for a duck after disturbing his middle stump. ACC’s seamers, Parimal and Risabh, supported by Jaimin Bapu in the fifth over, kept Annadil Burhani under pressure at 23/1 after five overs.
However, the match shifted in Annadil Burhani’s favour in the sixth over when Hani and Hatim took full advantage of loose short-pitched bowling from Gourav Pandey, scoring 17 runs in the over. From there, Annadil regained momentum and never looked back.
ACC introduced South African all-rounder Carol in place of Gourav, but he also conceded 14 runs as Burhani’s batters continued to dominate. Captain Gurpreet appeared short of answers as Hani and Hatim took Annadil to 73/1 after nine overs.
Gurpreet eventually broke the 77-run stand by dismissing Hatim, who was caught by Soni at short-mid-on. He then created another chance against Hani, but Gourav dropped the catch at slip. Gurpreet later made amends by dismissing Hani in his second over, taking a return catch.
Taher then joined Abbas and immediately stamped his authority with three consecutive boundaries off Gurpreet. The pair added 44 runs in just 24 deliveries before Risabh dismissed Taher, with Annadil needing only 37 runs from 35 balls.
Annadil Burhani completed the chase comfortably in 19 overs.
In the second match, Kilimeru 313 batted first against A to Z and were restricted to 77 runs in their allotted overs. Zaheed Bhallo top-scored with 22 runs, while Guru Prakash and Sejul Hirani were the standout bowlers, both taking 3/15.
