Divisional champions Long Island Lions (LIL) registered a huge 147 run victory this past weekend over Desi Lions Cricket Club (DLCC) in the Commonwealth Cricket League morning division. Winning the toss, DLCC put LI Lions into bat on Whitestone astroturf surface.
Varun Chitkara (left) with Abhishek Gulati.
Despite losing opener Abhishek Gulati early, Lions top order delivered some big runs and rallied around Varun Chitkara who scored a brilliant ton at number 3. Varun scored 114 not out of just 69 deliveries including 14 boundaries and 3 maximums. He even finished the innings with a six of the last delivery. Varun’s innings was supported by opening batsman Gaurav Grover who was unlucky to miss out yet again and couldn’t capitalize on his 48. Lions captain Kunaal Kapoor came in at number 5 to score a quick fire 40 of just 23 deliveries to help get the score a mammoth 284 for 5 in the allotted 30 overs.
In return DLCC lost their top order early as Kunaal Kapoor stuck early with 3 wickets in his 4 overs. But the major damage to the DLCC batting order was done by Abhishek Gulati who too 5 wickets for just 26 runs in his 6 overs to restrict the DLCC total to 137 all out. DLCC captain Sethi Badal was their main scorer with 43 runs as none of the other batsmen were able to settle to score big.
Game Summary:
Toss: Desi Lions won the toss and elected to field first.
LI Lions 284/5 in 30 overs (30 over max)
Varun Chitkara 114* (69)
Gaurav Grover 48 (40)
Kunaal Kapoor 40 (23)
Desi Lions Cricket Club 137 all out in 24.4 overs (30 overs max)
Sethi Badal 43 (32)
Abhishek Gulati 5.4 overs 5 wickets for 26 runs
Kunaal Kapoor 4 overs 3 wickets for 28 runs
Result: LI Lions win by 147 runs