Sharafuddeen's all-round effort went in vain as the Kollam Sailors' winning streak was broken by Kochi Blue Tigers, who secured an 18-run win in the Kerala Cricket League T20 in Thiruvananthapuram on Saturday.
With three wickets and 49 runs, Sharafuddeen did all he could, but the Sailors' innings folded for 129 with Blue Tigers' skipper Basil Thampi bagging three wickets.
Abhishek Nair, exceptional in the Sailors' opening games, was dismissed for two runs. Arun Poulose and skipper Sachin Baby followed him to the dugout with the Sailors reeling at 10/3. Vathsal Govind and Mohammed Shanu made good starts but failed to steady the Sailors' ship, and Sharafuddeen's cameo proved insufficient.
Earlier, Anand Krishnan and Jobin Joby scored half centuries to fire the Blue Tigers to 107/2 inside 14 overs. But the Sailors broke their momentum by taking wickets at regular intervals.
The Sailors remain top of the six-team league table with three wins out of four, while the Blue Tigers have climbed to second place with two wins from four outings.
Brief scores: Kochi Blue Tigers 147/9 in 20 overs (Anand Krishnan 54, Jobin Joby 51, KM Asif 4/23, Sharafuddeen NM 3/19) bt Kollam Sailors 129 in 18.1 overs (Sharafuddeen NM 49, Vathsal Govind 23, Basil Thampi 3/17, Anoop G 2/20, Jerin PS 2/24, Shine John Jacob 2/26)
