Shower of sixes and sparkling half-centuries lift Brothers Gas and InterGlobe Marine into the final

By K.R. Nayar

T20 cricket blossomed to its full glory through a shower of sixes and belligerent batting from the heroes of Brothers Gas and InterGlobe Marine in the semifinals of the CBFS powered by Fancode T20 tournament at the Sharjah Cricket stadium on Sunday. For Brothers Gas, Usman Khan hit an unbeaten 80 off 36 balls studded with nine sixes and two boundaries while opener Muhammad Waseem cracked 76 off 37 balls with four sixes and eight boundaries. 

For InterGlobe Marine, Asif Khan cracked 72 off 51 balls with four sixes and five boundaries while Yaseer Khaleem scored too scored 72 off 42 balls with four sixes and five boundaries. Twenty-one sixes were hit by these four match winners that carried their teams to the final.

The spectacular knocks from four of these finest hitters of UAE's domestic cricket ensured that both the winning teams posted targets of over 200 runs. It was a run spree with a total of 738 runs being scored by the four teams in the keenly fought semifinals.  Brothers Gas, winning the toss and electing to bat first, posted a whopping 239 for 3 in 20 overs and restricted Karwan Blues to 144 in 18.1 overs.  In the second semifinal, InterGlobe Marine posted 200 for 8 in 20 overs and restricted MGM Cricket Club to 155 for 9 in 20 overs.

First semifinal: Usman Khan, Muhammad Waseem and Jiju Janardhanan's show 

Brothers Gas provided an electrifying start to the semifinal through a 104 runs opening partnership between Muhammad Waseem and wicketkeeper Hamdan Tahir. In the 104 runs partnership, 76 runs were scored by Waseem before he got out caught by Taimoor Ali off Mohammed Faraazuddin. Usman Khan joined Tahir and took the score to 150 in 13.5 overs before Tahir got out caught by Taimoor Ali off Waqas Ali for 40 off 32 balls with four boundaries and six.

Usman Khan was at his aggressive best along with Jiju Janardhanan. While Jiju hit 30 off 14 balls with four boundaries and a six, Usman Khan remained unconquered with 80. The Usman Khan-Jiju Janardhanan partnership yielded 88 runs and Brothers Gas posted 239 runs scoring at a run rate of 11.95 per over.

Karwan Blues, who had put up splendid batting performances in this tournament, had an early set back. Their opening partnership between Fahad Nawaz and Ahaan Fernandes which had yielded two century partnerships lasted only five balls with Ahaan getting caught by Muhammad Waseem off Arslan Javed for 4. Muhammad Azhar struck vital blows in the sixth over by having Taimoor Ali caught by Jiju Janardhanan for 12 and three balls later he also took the prize wicket of skipper Fahad Nawaz for 28. Nawaz’s knock off 17 balls had three boundaries and one six before he was caught by Muhammad Zahid Ali.

When Lovepreet Singh, who was among their consistent scorers, too fell caught behind by wicketkeeper Hamdan Tahir off Mujahid Amin for 12, Karwan Blues slipped to 85 for 4 in 10.2 overs. Brothers Gas tightened their grip despite wicketkeeper Ashwanth Valthappa hitting 44 off 24 balls with four boundaries and three sixes before getting caught by Muhamad Zahid off Mujahid Amin. Jiju Janardhanan destroyed Karwan Blues attempt to get back into the game taking the wickets of Asif Hayat for 15, Salman Khan for 4, and Omid Rahman for 7 to ensure his team a 95-runs victory.

Speaking about his Man of the Match winning performance through this whirlwind unbeaten 80, Usman Khan said: “When I saw that 100 runs had been scored by the ninth over, that gave me the confidence to go for my shots. The platform for a huge score had already been set through Muhammad Waseem’s 76 runs. So I launched my ability to hit powerful shots and that resulted in those nine sixes. Actually, the 100 runs opening partnership between Waseem and opener Hamdan Tahir was the platform that helped others to come and play their shots freely and take the total to a huge 239. I was given good support by Jiju who also hit a quick 30. Jiju bagging three wickets for just ten runs ensured that our team goes into the final with a big win.”

Brief scores:

Brothers Gas bt Karwan Blues by 95 runs. Brothers Gas 239 for 3 in 20 overs (Muhammad Waseem 76, Hamdan Tahir 40, Usman Khan 80n.o, Jiju Janardhanan 30, Mohammed Faraazuddin 2 for 54) Karwan Blues 144 in 18.1 overs (Fahad Nawaz 28, Ashwanth Valthappa 44, Muhammad Azhar 2 for 23, Mujahid Amin 2 for 35, Jiju Janardhanan 3 for 10)
Man of the Match: Usman Khan.

Second semifinal: Asif Khan-Yasir Khaleem 131 runs partnership carries InterGlobe Marine to the final 

InterGlobe Marine justified their decision to bat first after winning the toss by posting 200 runs in the 20 overs against MGM Cricket Club.  They did not have a smooth start as they lost their opener Sandeep Singh for 14, caught by Niaz Khan off Bilal Asif for 14 and one-drop Rizwan CP for 4, caught and bowled by Danish Quereshi. But opener Asif Khan and wicketkeeper Yasir Khaleem produced a stubborn partnership preventing MGM from taking any more wickets.

Asif Khan and Yasir Khaleem put on a match-winning 131 runs partnership and took the score to 177 in 17.2 overs before Khaleem got bowled by Danish Qureshi for 72. The way the pair took charge and dominated the bowling was a treat to watch. Asif Khan then departed at the score on 182 in the 18^th over caught by Ansar Khan off Danish Qureshi for 72. Though Vishnu Sukumaran fell for 4, bowled by Niaz Khan, and Basil Hameed got caught by Rahul Chopra off Ansar Khan and Touqeer Riyasat, and Gopakumar got run out for 1 and 4 runs respectively, InterGlobe Marine managed a total of 200 runs.

MGM Cricket Club, which has been consistently posting high scores in the previous matches, needed a good start. Unfortunately this did not happen for them as they lost the prize wicket of Ansar Khan, trapped leg before by Touqeer Riyasat with the first ball of the innings. At the score of 24, they also lost Adeel Malik caught by Rizwan CP off Gopa Kumar for 15.

MGM Cricket Club also lost the hero of their last match Rahul Chopra, who had hit an unbeaten 90 against The Vision Shipping, for a duck, trapped leg before by Hazrat Luqman. At the score on 69, Bilal Asif who has stroking well to score 33 runs off 24 balls with two boundaries and two sixes, departed caught by Hazrat Luqman off Harry Bharwal. When wicketkeeper Mayank Choudhary too got bowled by Harry Bharwal for 19, half of the MGM team was back in the dug-out for 77 in 10.2 overs.

Waqas Ali top scored with 43 runs made off 34 balls with two boundaries and two sixes before being caught by Harry Bharwal off Asif Khan. Harshit Kaushik too hit an unbeaten 25, but MGM could muster only 155 for 9 in the 20 overs and lost by 45 runs. Asif Khan completed his match winning show by also taking two wickets in the last over giving away just three runs.

Speaking about his allround show Asif Khan said: “It was a big match and we wanted to win it and so I gave it all to ensure a victory. Knock-out matches are pressure matches and these are matches in which one needs to play according to the situation. It is very important to trust one’s skills and execute it. Winning and losing is part of cricket but we will try and win the final too.”

Just before midnight on Monday (January 31) the first champions of the CBFS powered by Fancode T20 tournament will emerge after a title clash between Brothers Gas and Inter Globe Marine.

Brief scores:
InterGlobe Marine bt MGM Cricket Club by 45 runs. InterGlobe Marine 200 for 8 in 20 overs (Asif Khan 72, Yasir Khaleem 72, Danish Qureshi 3 for 34) MGM Cricket Club  155 for 9 in 20 overs (Bilal Asif 33, Waqas Ali 43, Harshit Kaushik 25n.o, Harry Bharwal 2 for 32, Asif Khan 2 for 3)
Man of the Match: Asif Khan.