Assupol TUKS hold nerve in tense chase

Assupol TUKS 124 for 5 (Wessels 56*, Ebrahim 2-15) beat Rizvi Mumbai 122 for 9 (Ghadigaonkar 34, Claassen 2-10) by five wickets
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details

Johan Wessels's unbeaten half-century guided Assupol TUKS to the final of the Red Bull Campus Cricket World Finals after completing a tense five-wicket win against Rizvi Mumbai at The Oval.

Set 123 for victory, Assupol TUKS lost early ground in their chase as their openers Aiden Markram and Gerald Pike both departed inside three overs, leaving the team precariously placed at 9 for 2. Wessels, however, led a recovery by combining with the captain Theunis de Bruyn for a third-wicket association which yielded 54 runs. At 63 for 2, Assupol TUKS were solid, but de Bruyn was bowled by legspinner Sagar Gorivale in the 10th over, and the quick dismissals of Tian Koekemoer and Sean Dickson soon after reduced the team to 90 for 5, and Rizvi Mumbai were right back in it.

Wessels and Heinrich Klaasen, however, held their nerve to take the team home. With 13 needed off 12 balls, Klaasen thumped a six over midwicket in the penultimate over to ease the situation, and duly completed the win himself by striking the first ball of the final over for four. Wessels remained unbeaten on 56 with three fours and two sixes, while for Rizvi Mumbai, medium-pacer John Ebrahim was the pick of the bowlers, collecting 2 for 15 in 3.1 overs.

Rizvi, choosing to bat, had made 122 for 9 from their 20 overs. The captain Sumit Ghadigaonkar and Rao Manish both scored 34, but none of the other batsmen could make a significant contribution, as incisive bowling from Assupol TUKS, led by Ruben Claassen, kept pegging the team back. Claassen and Corbin Bosch both picked up two wickets, though Claasen was the more economical of the two, ending with figures of 4-1-10-2.

Assupol TUKS will face Jamaica ISCA in the final, at the same venue.