Brothers Gas snap InterGlobe Marine’s five-match winning run to clinch top slot as MGM Cricket Club stop Karwan Strikers

By K.R. Nayar

Brothers Gas snapped InterGlobe Marine’s five-match winning run to move to the top of the table while MGM Cricket Club advanced by recording a four-wicket win over Karwan Strikers in the 20^th and 21^st matches of the CBFS powered by Fancode T20 tournament at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium on Sunday. The architects of these teams’ victories were Brothers Gas’s Muhammad Azhar, who produced a three wicket spell to bowl out InterGlobe Marine for 86 runs, and MGM’s Niaz Khan, who also bagged three vital wickets, to restrict Karwan Strikers to 145 for 8.

Match 20:  Niaz Khan’s vital blows derail Karwan Strikers

Karwan Strikers won the toss and elected to bat. Niaz Khan bowling the second over of the match struck by having opener Ameer Hamza caught by Nawab Khan for 4. At the score of 16, Danish Qureshi continued to strike early by clean bowling opener Aryan Lakra for 6. Fayyaz Ahmed and Ali Khan took the score to 48 when Bilal Asif had Fayyaz caught and bowled for 18. Ali Khan and Muhammad Usman added another 30 runs for the fourth wicket before Nawab Khan had Ali Khan caught by Rahul Chopra for a run-a-ball 28 which contained two boundaries and a six. Niaz Khan picked his second wicket by having Karwan’s wicketkeeper Furqan Khalil caught by Bilal Asif 7.

With half the side back in the dug-out for 90 in 15.2 overs, Mohammad Usman, who top-scored with 34, became another Danish Qureshi victim. Usman’s knock came off 25 balls with two sixes and a boundary.  Kashif Daud kept the score moving but Tariq Mehmood became Niaz Khan’s third victim getting caught by Nawab Khan for 6. These strikes upset Karwan Strikers' plans to score a total of over 160. Nawab Khan had Muhammad Taimoor too out caught by Adeel Malik for 5, but Daud, through an unbeaten 31 off just 15 balls with three sixes and two boundaries, ensured a total of 145 for 8 in 20 overs.

Chasing the target, opener Ansar Khan gave MGM a breezy start. He hit five sixes and two boundaries to score 41 runs before falling at the score of 55, clean bowled by Ahmed Shafiq. Opener Hafiz Kaleem and Bilal Asif capitalized on the quick start and took the score to 70 in 7.4 overs before Kaleem got caught by Ali Khan off Tariq Mehmood for 16. Ten runs later, Waqas Ali became another Tariq Mehmood victim getting caught by Ali Khan for 2. Wicketkeeper Mayank Choudhary hit 19 runs to steer MGM past the 100 run mark before getting bowled by Kashif Daud. Bilal Asif fell in the 18^th over when 15 more runs were needed, caught behind by wicketkeeper Furqan Khalil off Muhammad Taimoor for 28. His sedate knock came off 40 balls with two boundaries. At this juncture, Rahul Chopra hit an invaluable unbeaten 23 runs and with Niaz Khan (4n.o) took the score to the target in 18.5 overs.

Brief scores:
MGM Cricket Club bt Karwan Strikers by four wickets. Karwan Strikers 145 for 8 in 25 overs (Ali Khan 28, Muhammad Usman 34, Kashif Daud 31n.o, Danish Qureshi 2 for 25, Niaz Khan 3 for 25, Nawab Khan 2 for 40) MGM Cricket Club 148 for 6 in 19.1 overs (Ansar Khan 41, Bilal Asif 28, Rahul Chopra 23n.o, Kashif Daud 2 for 48, Tariq Mehmood 2 for 18)
Man of the Match: Niaz Khan

Match 21: Azhar and Waseem lift Brothers Gas to the top

InterGlobe Marine won the toss and elected to bat. They had a steady start too with opener and wicketkeeper Sandeep Singh Sandy and Asif Khan putting on 39 runs. Khan was the first to go caught by Usman Khan off Umer Farooq for 19. At the score of 54, Sandeep got caught behind by wicketkeeper Hamdan Tahir off Farooq for 26. Left-arm spinner Muhammad Azhar struck a vital blow dismissing the consistent Rizwan CP at the score of 61, caught by Saqib Manshad for 4. At the same score, Basil Hameed too got out caught by Muhammad Waseem off Mujahid Amin for 5. One run later, Babar Ghazanfar too became Amin’s second victim after getting caught by Dawood Ejaz for a duck.

Worse was to follow when  Shahnawaz Khan got caught by Muhammad Zahid Ali off Muhammad Azhar for 1. The remaining batsmen too failed to rise to the challenge as Muhammad Azhar got Azhar Gul clean bowled for 4. This was followed by Muhammad Zahid Ali’s double strike clean bowling Asif Mumtaz and Hazrat Luqman resulting in InterGlobe Marine being bowled out for a paltry 86 runs in 18 overs.

Chasing this small target, opener Hamdan Tahir fell for a duck getting caught by Basil Hameed off Hazrat Luqman to the last ball of the first over. Opener Muhammad Waseem began in his aggressive style and though one-drop batsman Usman Khan too got out caught by Shahnawaz Khan off Asif Mumtaz for 4, it did not bother him.

Waseem gave the next batsman Jiju Janardhanan only 13 balls to face and score an unbeaten 8.  He hit sixes and boundaries freely. So dominant was Waseem’s batting that he scored 74 out of the score of 87 runs while guiding the team to the target in just 9.3 overs. This boosted their run rate too and helped in clinching the top slot in the points table over InterGlobe Marine as well who have five victories and ten points.

Left-arm spinner Muhammad Azhar, who was adjudged the Man of the Match and was a former Pakistan Under-19 team probable nearly seven years before coming to UAE, said: “I assessed the condition and bowled according to the situation. I knew the batsmen would go for their shots and there will be chances. InterGlobe Marine is a team made up of aggressive batsmen and all I did was transform their strengths into weakness and get them out.”

Taher Hasan, manager of Brother Gas, expressing his delight over his team reaching the top, said: “We won the match due to the super spells from Muhammad Azhar and Mujahid Amin. They bowled eight overs and took five wickets for just 17 runs and this is where the match tilted our way. Muhammad Waseem, through his brilliant unbeaten 74, was superb while chasing the target.”

Brief scores
Brothers Gas bt InterGlobe Marine by 8 wkts. InterGlobe Marine 86 in 18 overs (Sandeep Singh Sandy 26, Muhammad Zahid Ali  2 for 18, Umar Farooq 2 for 26, Mujahid Amin 2 for 6, Muhammad Azhar 3 for 11) Brothers Gas 87 for 2 in 9.3 overs (Muhammad Waseem 74n.o)
Man of the Match:  Muhammad Azhar