Game 8 : T20 Pokal 2021

Köln Kings played their eighth game of the 2021 season on the 1st of August against the Golden Star RL team, at the beautiful Bonn ground. Dhruv won the toss and chose to bat first. Regular opener Irfan was not available for the game, meaning Tejas was accompanied by Dhruv. They got the team off to a good start, capitalising on some wayward bowling from the Stars. The Kings' raced to 91 within the first ten overs before Dhruv fell to off-spinner Mujeeb. Tejas reached his 50 and soon followed Dhruv to the pavilion, top-edging straight down long-off's throat. Santosh scored a few quick runs before Rameez fell, bringing big-hitter Prateek to the crease. The Stars had done a good job to lower the scoring rate but Prateek set the tone of his innings with a huge six over long-on, having been gifted a free hit off his first ball. Santosh and Prateek scored quickly before Santosh fell and in-form Satya arrived at the crease. Some hard running and a few big shots meant the Kings finish at an imposing 164 in their 20 overs.

The Stars started off well against Prateek, who was a lot easier to play on the slow Bonn wicket. However, Appu struck with his first ball, trapping the opener plumb in front. Though Prateek kept it tight at the other end, opener Muneeb rode his luck against Appu and scored a few boundaries. In came left-arm spinner Sandheep, who did a good job in first two overs, giving only two runs in each of them. But a poor over from him that leaked 17 runs combined with two sixes in Sateesh Hazelwood's over and some poor catching meant the pressure was back on the Kings. However, Tejas stopped the flow of the runs, getting both batsmen within the space of two overs to wreck the momentum. From there on, it was a matter of formality, the Kings picking up wickets regularly to end the Stars' innings at 128. Tejas finished with three wickets, while Appu and Grinesh picked up two wickets each. The Kings were not at their best but got the job done.

Köln Kings Squad : Satya Srinivas(Wk), Dhruv Patel(C), Grinesh Sanghavi, Appu Muraleedharan, Tejas Harish, Sandheep Pulya Ravishankar, Rameez Deshmukh, Satheeshkumar Rathinasamy, Lokesh Kamti(Wk), Santosh Kumar, Prateek Dabholkar

Man of the Match : Tejas Harish