Kerala Kings has won the first-ever edition of T10 League under the captaincy of Eoin Morgan. Kerala Kings beat Punjabi Legends to become the first-ever champions of the brand new T10 League.
Morgan, the England limited-overs captain, aced the chase of 121 with a sparkling 63 from 21 balls, studded with half a dozen sixes and five boundaries and was assisted by Irishman Paul Stirling, who remained unbeaten on 52 from 23 deliveries, with five sixes and three boundaries.
Their scintillating knocks made the target look too little as the Kerala Kings romped home with eight wickets still in hand and with 12 balls to spare.
After the flurry of shots that flew off the bat, the ending was an anti-climax Dawlat Zadran bowling a wide with one needed from 12 deliveries.
Earlier, Luke Ronchi and the Punjabi Legends thought they had done enough by piling up a stiff 120 for 3.
Ronchi followed up his unbeaten 60 in the semifinal, with 70, the highest individual score of the League. He also became the highest run-getter in the League with 197 runs from five innings.
But that was to be of little consolation as the Morgan-Stirling show took over.
The first-ever T10 cricket league had a 10-over-a-side match with 90 minutes of action, spread over four days. The league was scheduled from December 14 and culminated on December 17 at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium in UAE.
Teams participating in the T10 League (TCL):
1.) Kerala Kings
2.) Maratha Arabians
3.) Team Sri Lanka cricket
4.) Punjabi Legends
5.) Pakhtoons
6.) Bengal Tigers
All the six teams already picked up their icon players earlier, which include, Shahid Afridi (Pakhtoons), Eoin Morgan (Kerela Kings), Virender Sehwag (Maratha Arabians), Shoaib Malik (Punjabi Legends) and Sarfraz Ahmed (Bengal Tigers), while Sri Lanka will have one separate team.
T10 League Squads:
1. Team Sri Lanka Cricket:
Dinesh Chandimal (captain), Thisara Perera, Nipun Karunanayake, Angelo Perera, Shehan Jayasuriya, Alankara Asanka, Lahiru Thirimanne, Dilshan Munaweera, Kithuruwan Vithanage, Angelo Jayasinghe, Wanidu Hasaranga, Kasun Madushanka, Dushmantha Chameera, Viswa Fernando, Sachithra Senanayake, Jeffrey Vandersay.
2. Punjabi Legends:
Shoaib Malik (Icon), Umar Akmal, Misbah-ul-Haq, Carlos Brathwaite, Fahim Ashraf, Abdul Razzaq, Ghulam Shabbir (wicketkeeper), Luke Ronchi (wicketkeeper), Shareef Asadullah, Hassan Ali, Chris Jordan, Rangana Herath, Dawlat Zadran, Adil Rashid, Usama Mir.
3. Kerala Kings:
Eoin Morgan (Icon), Ryan ten Doeschate, Babar Hayat, Rohan Mustafa, Kieron Pollard, Shakib al Hasan, Paul Stirling, Imran Haider, Sohail Tanvir, Liam Plunkett, Wahab Riaz, Samuel Badree, Rayad Emrit, Chadwick Walton, Nicholas Pooran.
4. Bengal Tigers:
Sarfraz Ahmed (Icon), Rameez Shahzad, Darren Sammy, Darren Bravo, Mohammad Nawaz, Rovman Powell, Sunil Narine, Ryan McLaren, Mohammed Naveed, Mustafizur Rahman, Rumman Raees, Hassan Khan, Anwar Ali, Johnson Charles, Andre Fletcher.
5. Pakhtoons:
Shahid Afridi (Icon), Fakhar Zaman, Tamim Iqbal, Dwayne Smith, Ahmad Shahzad, Najibullah Zadran, Amjad Javed, Mohammad Nabi, Liam Dawson, Junaid Khan, Mohammad Irfan, Sohail Khan, Umar Gul, Shaheen Afridi, Saqlain Haider.
6. Maratha Arabians:
Virender Sehwag (Icon), Shaiman Anwar, Alex Hales, Lendl Simmons, Rilee Rossouw, Ross Whiteley, Kamran Akmal (wicketkeeper), Dwayne Bravo, Zahoor Khan, Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Sami, Hardus Viljoen, Wayne Parnell, Imad Wasim, Reolof van der Merwe.
