Hassan Khan, Praveen Kumar rout Kerala Knights to give Punjabi legends big win

Sharjah - Praveen got Sohail Tanvir, Kieron Pollard and Reetinder Sodhi in the eighth over to pull the plug on Kerala.

Punjabi Legends' slow left-arm spinner Hassan Khan's four wickets and former India pacer Praveen Kumar's three had Kerala Knights hurtling towards a humiliating 36-run defeat in the second edition of the T10 League at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium on Monday night.
Hassan started the rout with the wicket of opener Paul Stirling. But after Chris Gayle got into the groove and gave Kerala hopes of a win by striking 35 from 19 balls (three sixes and three fours), it looked as if the match was running out of Punjabi's hands.
It took Chris Jordan to get Gayle's wicket and thereafter Hassan opened the floodgates as he grabbed the wickets of Upul Tharanga, Wayne Parnell and Fabian Allen, all in one over, to put a spoke in Kerala's wheel.
Praveen then got Sohail Tanvir, Kieron Pollard and Reetinder Sodhi in the eighth over to pull the plug on Kerala.
Earlier, Kerala Knights' Sohail Tanvir struck in his very first over to see the back of Evin Lewis and Mohammad Naveed rocked Punjabi Legends with the wickets of Luke Ronchi (6) and Umar Akmal (30), who until then was looking set for a big score.
Akmal struck three fours and two sixes from the 17 balls he faced.
So it was only surprising that Naveed was removed from the attack after bowling only one over and by the time he came back to bowl his second and the team's last over, he looked out of sorts and Chris Jordan capitalised on it to whack him for 21, of the 22 runs, they fetched in that over and give his side a healthy 107 on the board.
Brief scores
Punjabi Legends 107 for 5 in 10 overs (Umar Akmal 30, Chris Jordan 22 not out, Tom Moores 16 not out; Mohammad Naveed 2-25) Kerala Knights 71 all out in 8.2 overs (Chris Gayle 35; Hassan Khan 4-21, Praveen Kumar 3-21). Man of the match: Hassan Khan.
clareto@khaleejtimes.com