NEWS
Follow UsMohammed Azharuddeen, who was bought by Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) ahead of the 2021 Indian Premier League but never made an appearance for the franchise, lit up the opening day of the inaugural Kerala Cricket League (KCL), hammering a 47-ball 92 in the curtain-raiser of the competition.
Azharuddeen, who is captain of the Alleppey Ripples, hit a whopping nine sixes as his side registered a comfortable five-wicket win over Thrissur Titans to get off to a winning start in KCL 2024.
Azharuddeen, who shot to the limelight in the 2020/21 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy following a stunning 137* (54) against Mumbai, had had a tough time in T20s following his breakthrough knock. He managed just 143 runs at an average of 23.83 in 2022 and then got dropped midway through the 2023 SMAT after scoring 22 runs in the three games he played. These poor showings came on the back of him getting released by RCB after IPL 2021, where he did not make a single appearance.
READ: Kerala Cricket League: 10 players to watch out for from KCL 2024
But after an encouraging 2023/24 Ranji campaign where he averaged 51.50, the 30-year-old wicketkeeper-batter has started KCL 2024 on a positive note.
As far as the curtain-raiser was concerned, it was a comfortable victory for Azharuddeen’s Alleppey, who were in cruise control from ball one. Fazil Fanoos struck on the very first ball of the competition, and the Ripples did not look back from there. Anand Joseph (3/32) and Akshay Chandran (1/18) were the pick of the bowlers for Alleppey.
Akshay Manohar (57 off 44) showed some fight for the Titans, smashing five sixes, but it ultimately did not prove enough.
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