Aakash Antil, Deepak Kumar pulverise KN Colts

A day after the last-ball thriller between Goat XI and DC Bal Bhawan, it was damp squib as Sporting Cricket Club crushed KN Colts with the weight of 167 runs in the 46th Lala Raghubir Singh Hot Weather Cricket Tournament, on Wednesday.

The stars of the game were right-handed one-down batsman Aakash Antil and right-arm pacer Deepak Kumar, known in his club as ‘Bumrah’ for his ability to bowl yorkers.

With the cushion of 330/4 that his side’s batsmen had made earlier, Kumar, however, kept his yorkers in reserves and unleashed balls at the body of the batsman.

“My plan was to bowl a good line and length. I wanted to hit the batsmen on the body and not give room to the batsmen,” said Kumar after the game.

He bounced out the top three to reduce KN Colts to 31/3 in 5.2 overs before returning to take two more in the end. KN Colts were bowled out for 163 in 26.3 overs.

Two of the top three were caught at mid-off while one was dismissed at fine leg.

“With a total like 330, you get time and opportunity to execute plans. Even if you concede one or two boundaries, there is no problem,” added the 22-year-old Narela resident, who has represented Delhi under-19s in the 2019-20.

Earlier, Antil’s measured innings that realised 140 off 110 deliveries (16x4s, 6x6s) took Sporting Club past 300 runs. He was supported by Ayush Doseja (60 off 36 balls), the two adding 117 runs for the third wicket.

“We lost a wicket early. My plan was to just stay at the wicket and milk runs. The pitch aided a bit of turn so I had to be careful initially. As the game progressed, I started scoring,” said the 27-year-old right-handed batsman from Faridabad.

Antil, who represents Faridabad district in Haryana’s domestic competition, began cricket around 12 years ago and trains under ex-India stumper Vijay Yadav.

His most productive area was cover where he hit a six besides a number of boundaries.

“But the standout shot I thought was the pull shot for six over mid-wicket.”

The remaining four sixes were hit straight down the ground. Not surprisingly, he won the man-of-the-match award.