Sharjah Bukhatir XI snap Fujairah Pacific Ventures unbeaten streak to emerge the Dream 11 Emirates D20 Tournament champions

By K.R. Nayar

Sharjah displayed their fighting spirting to restrict Fujairah and also fight back after losing early wickets to win a low scoring final. Mubashshir Usmani, Secretary-General, Emirates Cricket Board, hails the success of the first edition of this tournament, which was held with the Decision Review System (DRS) and television coverage, and aided in spotting more talent for the UAE national team.

Sharjah Bukhatir XI celebrate their victory 

Sharjah Bukhatir XI emerged champions of the Dream 11 Emirates D20 Tournament through a brilliant display of their team’s never-say-die spirit. On Thursday night, at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium, they beat Fujairah Pacific Ventures by two wickets with three balls to spare in a hard fought final to became the first champions of this tournament organised by the Emirates Cricket Board in partnership with ITW Consulting.

Sharjah’s triumph was special as Fujairah had not lost a single match in this tournament till the final. In fact, even in the final, Fujairah, after being restricted to 130 for 8 in their 20 overs, had reduced Sharjah to 73 for 5 by the 13^th over. But Fujairah had to learn a bitter lesson later on that in T20 cricket any batsman through some big shots can take the match away. This is exactly what Sharjah’s Kashif Daud did by hitting some powerful shots and remaining unbeaten on 51 off 44 balls with two sixes and four boundaries.

Mubashshir Usmani, Secretary-General of the Emirates Cricket Board and Vivek Chandra, Director, ITW Consulting presents the winning trophy to Sharjah Bukhatir XI  skipper Fayyaz Ahmad 

Speaking to krbuzz.blogspot.com, Mubashshir Usmani, Secretary-General of the Emirates Cricket Board said: “We are delighted at having staged an excellent T20 format tournament that is a format recognised by the International Cricket Council. It is the first time we have staged a tournament with the Decision Review System (DRS) and television coverage. This gave the players and followers of our domestic cricket tournament a special experience.  The main purpose of this tournament was to identify talent in the UAE and also encourage players by giving them the recognition through an excellent platform. It was also meant to educate players on how to handle the various aspects of the game, including following the Anti-Corruption norms.”

All matches were held at the Dubai International stadium under the ring of fire lighting. Mubashshir then went on to add: “The atmosphere during the matches was brilliant and it helped players to give their best.  The standard of the contest was also of the highest quality. There were many outstanding performances in the tournament and those players will now get added to our pool of players, and we will try and provide them more opportunities and thereby create a good bench strength too for the UAE team.”

Mazhar Khan of Sharjah Cricket Council and Parvez Khan chairman of Pacific Group

with Mubashshir Usman watch the final at the Dubai International stadium. 
Sharjah skipper Fayyaz Ahmad, after winning the toss had elected to field. Fujairah’s star batsman and captain Rohan Mustafa was the first to go in the fifth over for 13. Waseem Muhmmad, who won the man of the series award by scoring 534 runs, got out for 19. Sandy Sandeep top scored with 29 runs while Hamdan Tahir remained unbeaten on 26. It was some tight bowling by Sharjah, led by Hafeez Rahman who took two wickets and Umair Ali too with two wickets, that restricted Fujairah to 130 for 8.

Waseem Muhmmad, who won the man of the series award

Chasing the total, Sharjah lost quick wickets. Rohan Mustafa bowled brilliantly to clean bowl Khalid Shah for 1, and trap Faisal Khan leg before for 4. Mustafa also pulled off a brilliant catch to remove skipper Fayyaz Ahmad for 12. Fifteen-year-old spinner Aayan Afzal Khan bowled tightly to remove Muhammad Boota (12) and Arsalan Javed (6) till Daud took the game away through some powerful shots.

It was a splendid finish by Sharjah who began their campaign by losing their first match of this tournament to Fujairah by 10 runs, but they won against Ajman by 6 wickets and Abu Dhabi by 31 runs. They then went on to lose to ECB Blues by 64 runs. After beating Dubai by 29 runs, they had again lost to Fujairah and ECB by five wickets and 20 runs respectively. After this, they won against Ajman by six wickets, defeated Dubai after a tie result in which the winner was decided by higher number of boundaries, and then stunned ECB by six wickets to qualify for the final.

Mustafa, commenting on his team’s defeat, said: “Winning and losing is part of the game. We won 11 matches in a row and unfortunately lost only the final. This was mainly because none of our batsmen managed to score a fifty. We missed our skipper Ahmad Raza in the final too. But we are happy that we played brilliant cricket throughout the tournament.”

Fayyaz Ahmad, the winning skipper, said: “Despite being down in three to four matches we pulled ourselves up to give our best. Kashif Daud rose to the challenge in a couple of matches and that helped us.  Our plan was to bowl tight and ensure we win this low scoring game.”
Mubashshir Usmani and Vivek Chandra, Director, ITW Consulting presented the winning trophy to Sharjah Bukhatir XI in the presence of Mazhar Khan of Sharjah Cricket Council and Parvez Khan chairman of Pacific Group.

The final was umpired by Shiju Sam Mannil and Shameem AB.