KCL | Akhil’s hat-trick highlights Globstars’ thumping win

Great feeling: Akhil is joy unbound after his remarkable feat.

Medium pacer V. Akhil Dev will forever remember this night as he etched his name into record books by taking the first hat-trick in the KCL at the Greenfield stadium here on Monday.

Calicut Globstars rode on an exemplary show from its bowlers to crush Alleppey Ripples by six wickets and take the second spot in the points table.

Put into bat on a surface that helped spinners, Ripples crumbled to 19 for five and was bundled out for 90. Globstars chased down the target with 49 balls to spare for a third win.

Akhil’s memorable moment came in his second and the 17th over of the Ripples’ innings.

After being clubbed for a huge six by Alfi Francis, the medium-pacer had his revenge when he had the batter top-edging a shot to wicket-keeper Ajinas. Akhil trapped Fanoos in front and then yorked impact sub Vinoop Manoharan to complete his hat-trick.

Trivandrum Royals again owed its win to the captain Abdul Basith who smashed an unbeaten 50 to carry his side to a five-wicket victory over Kochi Blue Tigers.

The win helped Royals move from the bottom to the third place in the table.

Chasing 131, the Royals top-order failed to fire and it slipped to 55 for four in the 13th over when Basith joined A.K. Akarsh in the middle. Basith swung the contest in favour of Royals when he clubbed four consecutive sixes over mid-wicket off right-arm spinner Shine John Jacob in the 14th over.

Basith and Akarsh (25) added 86 for the fifth wicket.

Earlier, Royals picked up wickets at regular intervals to keep the Tigers in check. T. Nikhil played a cameo 37 off 20 balls.

Medium-pacer Vinod Kumar (4/16) and Basith (3/23) were the standout bowlers for Royals.

The scores:

Kochi Blue Tigers 131 in 20 overs (T. Nikhil 37, C.V. Vinod Kumar 4/16, Abdul Basith 3/23, Sreehari Nair 2/16) lost to Trivandrum Royals 135/5 in 19.5 overs (Abdul Basith 50 n.o., U.Manukrishnan 2/28, Shine John Jacob 2/33). Toss: Royals.

Alleppey Ripples 90 in 18.5 overs (T.K. Akshay 34, Ujwal Krishna 32, V. Akhil Dev 4/20, V. Ajith 2/7, Akhil Scaria 2/22) lost to Calicut Globstars 91/4 in 11.5 overs (K.A. Arun 34 n.o., Anand Joseph 2/12) Toss: Globstars.