Game 2 : T20 Pokal 2021

Köln Kings played their second game of the t-20 tournament on 03/07/2021. A tough game was on the cards, with their opponents Bayer Boosters having defeated them in the recently concluded ECS t-10 tournament. Captain Dhruv Patel won the toss and elected to bat first. Tejas and Irfan got the team off to a good start again, taking the team’s score to 68 before Irfan lost his stumps trying to slog medium pacer Vaka over mid-wicket, having scored 42 off only 28 balls. Dhruv fell shortly thereafter, cutting the ball straight into the hands of the point fielder. In came Satya, who was cautious at the start, rotating the strike regularly with Tejas, ensuring the run rate stayed over 6 per over. Satya then took the attack to the Bayer Boosters bowlers, scoring heavily before Tejas fell chipping the ball to long-on. Lokesh and Rameez fell cheaply towards the end of the innings and Köln Kings ended their innings at a competitive score of 156.

Bayer Boosters started their innings in an aggressive manner, trying to attack the Köln Kings bowlers but Prateek was too hot to handle while Appu was reliable as usual, not giving many runs away though no wickets fell. Left-arm spinner Sandheep provided the first breakthrough, picking up Tharmaraj top-edging to extra cover. He was well supported by Ameya at the other end, who bowled good lines and lengths and was rewarded with a wicket. Appu and Grinesh effectively put an end to any hopes of victory for the Boosters, picking up two wickets each in the middle overs. Bayer Boosters finished their innings at 112 for 7 in their 20 overs. Though the Boosters managed to score at almost 6 runs per over due to their relentless slogging, it was a good bowling performance by the Kings, considering the fact that one half of the spin duo Tejas, the wicket machine, did not even get a bowl. Apart from some minor fielding mishaps, this was an excellent performance by the Köln Kings, from which they will definitely gain a lot of confidence.