Telugu and Victory cricket clubs started strong with wins in their opening matches of the VR Naidu RCA T20 tournament which kicked off over the weekend at the Kicukiro cricket ground.

Gopal Reddy got his best bowling figures of four wickets for 19 runs in his four overs when Telugu CC beat Indorwa CC in the first match.

Telugu chose to bat first after winning the toss and scored 158 runs for 7 wickets in 20 overs. Shiva Samba was the man in batting form after getting 58 runs.  

Indorwa’s chase was greatly affected by the consistent bowling of Gopal who got a hat-trick and was later named man of match. 

"We had lost early wickets which affected our scoring rate,” said Dhaval Patel, who top scored with 40 runs but was not enough as Indorwa managed only 106/9 in 16 overs.

In the afternoon game, Victory CC managed a small score of 136/3 that Kerala Hunters CC passed with 5 wickets in hand. Andre Kayitera and Ed Pearson were the outstanding VCC batsmen as they scored half centuries, 51 runs and 68 runs, respectively. 

Rakesh Nair was named man of match after hitting a career best 61 runs off just 33 balls. 

He shuttled VCC bowlers with 4 sixes and 4 fours in his innings. Andrew Storey was the biggest victim after he went for over 22 runs in his last 2 overs.

VR NAIDU / RCA T20 Tournament

Men, morning 

TCC 158/7 in 20 overs beat ICC 106/9 in 16 overs by 52 runs at Kicukiro cricket ground

TCC batting: Shiva Samba 58 runs & Nsubuga Siraji 18 runs

ICC bowling: Nayan Patel 2/30 and Mihir Solanki 2/33

ICC batting: Daval Patel 40 runs & Mihir Batt 10 runs

TCC bowling: Gopal Reddy 4/19

Player of the match: Gopal Reddy 4/19

Afternoon

VCC 136/3 in 20 overs lost to KHCC 139/5 in 18.2 overs by 5 wickets at Kicukiro cricket ground

VCC batting: Ed Pearson 68 runs and Kayitera Andrew 51 runs n.o

KHCC bowling: Sibin P.P 2/18

KHCC batting: Rakesh Nair 61 runs n.o and Sibin P.P 19 runs

VCC bowling: Manirambona Desire 2/28

Man of match: Ed Pearson 68 runs and 1 wicket