Lovepreet Singh’s love and passion for cricket ensures Karwan Blues a five-wicket win
By K.R. Nayar
Twenty-year-old Lovepreet Singh, who has been scoring consistently, cracked a timely half-century to ensure Karwan Blues a five-wicket win over Bukhatir XI in the 25th match of the CBFS powered by Fancode T20 tournament at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium on Thursday. This budding cricketer, who missed playing for the UAE Under-19 in the Asia Cup due to the tournament getting postponed because of Covid-19, and had crossed the age limit by the time the Asia Cup was held late last year, is displaying all his skills as a fine batsman in this tournament.
Singh had cracked an unbeaten knock of 66 against InterGlobe Marine who had a strong bowling attack led by South African spinner Imran Tahir. On Thursday, his 50 off 30 balls lifted Karwan Blues to the third position in the points table and he now has a reason to ensure his team keeps winning their matches.
Lovepreet has lived in UAE since he was three years old, and his
motivation to perform for Karwan Blues stems from the support the team
management has provided him to pursue his cricketing career. “I am a
full-time cricketer owing to Karwan team management, especially team owner
Babar Iqbal Bhai, who has given me a contract to play cricket since he helps
many youngsters financially. The team management made up of Zubair bhai, Rizwan
bhai, and Fahad sir back me a lot and I want to do everything to win matches. I
have been training hard under coaches Ali Asad and Rizwan bhai to be
consistent.”
Lovepreet’s love for cricket had also been backed by his parents. “I don’t hail from a wealthy family but my Mom and Dad have always supported me making sure they buy me all the cricket equipment I needed from a young age along with meeting my academic expenses too. So I want to make them proud too with tall scores.”
The match against Bukhatir XI was another instance of Lovepreet
Singh giving it all for the team after Karwan Blues had won the toss and elected to bowl. Two of
UAE's promising cricketers Vriitya Aravind and Ansh Tandon opened the innings
for Bukhatir XI and put on 28 runs in the 3.1 overs. The first to fall was
Tandon for 16, caught by Mohammed Faraazuddin off Salman
Khan. Aravind took the score to 51 with his skipper Khalid Shah
before getting caught by Taimoor Ali and becoming Salman Khan’s second victim.
His knock of 24 runs off 18 balls had five boundaries.
Jamshaid
Zafar Butt and Shah added another 20 runs for the third wicket before Butt got
caught by Salman Khan off Mohammed Faraazuddin for 8. Four runs later, Shah too
followed caught by Asif Hayat off Karthik Meiyappan 22. His knock off 15 balls
had two boundaries and a six. With the score of 77, Mohammad Halan got clean
bowled by Fahad Nawaz for 3. When half the side was back in the dug-out by the
11th over, the prospects of Bukhatir XI posting a big total
began to fade.
The accurate Meiyappan had Unaid Rehman caught and bowled for 10 while Lovepreet Singh had Hassan Khalid caught off Asif Hayat. The regular fall of wickets affected Bukhatir XI's run flow. Though Muhammad Irfan got bowled to Salman Khan for 3, Simraneet Singh and Muhammad Mudassir held on and took the score to 140 in 20 overs. Simraneet remained unbeaten on 13 while Mudassir remain unconquered on 18.
Chasing
the target, Karwan Blues got off to a shocking start. Their opening pair of
Ahaan Fernandes and Fahad Nawaz, both of whom had posted two consecutive
century partnerships in their last two match matches, were back in the dug-out
with just 14 runs on board. Ahaan fell to the first ball of the second over
from Muhammad Irfan after getting caught by Mohammad Halan for just one run.
Nawaz got caught and bowled by Ankur Sangwan for a duck to the second ball of
the third over.
But Waqas Ali and Lovepreet Singh withstood the Bukhatir XI attack and took the score to 58 before Waqas got caught by Jamshaid Zafar off Muhammad Mudassir for 17. After this, Lovepreet took charge, and along with wicketkeeper Ashwanth Valthappa, they steered their team towards the target. Lovepreet dominated the bowling to score 50 off 30 balls with six boundaries in a score of 89. After Lovepreet fell to Hassan Khalid caught by Unaid Rehman, Ashwanth and Mohammad Faraazuddin played cautiously and took their team close to the target. Faraazudin scored 17 off 19 balls before being trapped leg before by Ankur Sangwan while Ashwanth hit an unbeaten 38 off 26 balls with six boundaries and ultimately win the match in 18.2 overs.
Brief scores:
Karwan Blues bt Bukhatir XI by five wickets. Bukhatir XI 140 for 8 in 20 overs (Vriitya Aravind 24, Khalid Shah 22, Salman Khan 3 for 50, Karthik Meiyappan 2 for 10) Karwan Blues 144 for 5 in 18.2 overs (Lovepreet Singh 50, Ashwanth Valthappa 38, Ankur Sangwan 2 for 23)
Man of the Match: Lovepreet Singh
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