Sabaorish Ravichandran showed he is a man for all formats by dominating the Japan Cricket League T10 Finals Day as Tigers earned their latest piece of silverware. 

Already holders of the JCL 40-over title and Japan Cup from 2022 and 2023, they bounced back from a group stage exit in the T10 last year to vanquish reigning champions Men in Blue in a one-sided final.

Ravichandran starred with bat and ball throughout. His 216 runs from five matches at a strike rate of almost 250 was 91 runs more than the second highest run scorer, while his economy rate of 5.67 was the best of anyone who played more than two matches. 

He saved his best for the Finals Day, firstly taking three wickets for five runs to completely unravel the Tokyo Falcons in a seven-wicket semi-final win, completed with 17-balls to spare, before shining with the bat in the final. 

His scintillating 86* from 31 balls against Men in Blue was the highest score of the 2024 tournament and took Tigers to a total of 140 for four, which looked virtually unreachable. 

So it proved, and at last it was someone else’s turn to shine as Sanath Acharya took the best figures so far in the two seasons of the T10, with four wickets for just two runs ending the contest. 

Finishing 58 for eight meant an enormous 82 run win for the Tigers, and the celebrations did not look like a team tired of winning. 

Men in Blue walked away proud of their efforts in reaching a second final, courtesy of a Vishal Patel inspired semi-final win by seven wickets over Kawasaki Knight Riders, who fell at the last four stage for the second year in a row. 

The tournament was moved from July/August to March/April this year which led to an increase of teams from eight to ten. All matches were live streamed from SICG One and highlights provided for every match on the JCA YouTube Channel.