InterGlobe Marine win through captain Asif Mumtaz’s show in nerve-cracking Super Over contest while Muhammad Hassan ensures MGM Cricket Club a big win

By K.R. Nayar

InterGlobe Marine skipper Asif Mumtaz produced his best when it mattered most and proved why he has been a successful leader that won them the CBFS T20 tournament title. Through a nerve-cracking contest in the CBFS powered by Fancode S10 tournament at Sharjah Cricket Stadium on Tuesday that ended in a Super Over finish against Qudran International, he carried InterGlobe Marine into the semifinal of this event.  Mumtaz produced a spectacular display of accurate off spin bowling to bag five wickets for 12 runs to restrict Qudran International to 99 for 8, and in the Super Over, he bagged two more wickets giving away no runs for a total of seven wickets for 12 runs. 

In the first match, Muhammad Hassan, who had steered MGM Cricket Club into the quarterfinals through his unbeaten 42n.o against Arqum Cricket Club, sparkled with the ball this time. He bagged three wickets for eight runs to ensure his team a place in the semifinal through a nine-wicket win over NFL Falcons.

Quarterfinal 2: Asif Mumtaz’s show and Super Over win 

The tale of the most exciting contest of this edition so far began with InterGlobe Marine team, that finished second in Group A, winning the toss against Group B’s third placed Qudran International and electing to field. Hazrat Luqman had Qudran International opener Janaka Chaturanga caught by Touqeer Riyasat at extra cover for a duck to the second legal ball of the match after bowling two wides. Skipper Rizwan Ahmed and opener Hameed Khan took the score to 23 when skipper Rizwan got caught by Owais Shah short fine leg off Touqeer Riyasat for 4. 

Thereafter began the splendid bowling show from Asif Mumtaz. He had Imran Javed caught by Shahnawaz Khan at deep square leg for a duck and with the next ball removed the well set Hameed caught behind by wicketkeeper Yasir Khaleem for 42. His knock off 11 balls had five sixes and three boundaries and his dominance can be gauged from the fact that he had scored 42 off the 49 runs for the loss of three wickets posted by his team. 

In the fourth over, Arif Hadwal got bowled by Asif Mumtaz for 6. Umer Doger and Naseeb Khan took the score to 74 when Asif Mumtaz struck again to have Doger caught by Gopakumar Gopalakrishnan at deep mid-wicket for 10. Mumtaz also clean bowled Naseeb Khan for 10 and Qudra International’s hope of scoring a total of over 100 faded. After Basit Ali got caught by Asif Mumtaz off Harry Bharwal for 7, Fanoos Kanwal took the score to 99 for 8 in 10 overs through an unbeaten 15. 

For InterGlobe Marine’s batting strength, it was an easy target but Qudran International decided to fight hard. Qudran’s right-arm pacer Irshad Hussain removed the dangerous opener Sandeep Singh Sandy, caught by Hameed Khan at mid-on for a duck in the third over. With the next ball, Hussain also picked the valuable wicket of opener Asif Khan, also caught by Hameed Khan at mid-on after a juggle. England Test star Owais Shah got bowled by Basit Ali for 9. This was followed by a stubborn partnership of 38 runs for the fourth wicket between Vishnu Sukumaran and Yasir Khaleem before Sukumaran got caught behind by wicketkeeper Fanoos Kanwal off Umer Doger for 24. Thereafter Qudran tightened the run flow with Touqeer Riyasat getting run out for a duck. The match ended in a tie after 11 runs were needed off the last over. With seven runs needed off the last two balls, Yasir Khaleem hit a six over the covers to the second last ball of the innings.  He fell to the last ball off the innings for 35, got caught behind by Fanoos Kanwal off Saleem Abbas. Yasir’s knock off 24 balls had three sixes and a boundary.

In the Super Over, Asif Khan got run out for 5 and Sandeep Singh scored 3 runs for a total of 8 runs. Qudran succumbed to the splendid bowling from Asif Mumtaz who went on to clean bowl Hameed Khan for a duck and also had Umer Doger for a duck caught by Luqman running back from cover, and win the match by 8 runs.

Speaking about the most outstanding Man of the Match award winning performance, Asif Mumtaz was sporting in his remarks. He hailed Qudran International opener Hameed Khan and their pacer Irfan Hussain who pushed his team to a Super Over finish. “When Hameed Khan was batting we thought Qudran will post a total of around 140, but it was good we could restrict them to 99 for 8. We could also muster only 99 because of the fine bowling from Hameed Khan who is a very fine bowler. We are happy that in the end we emerged successful.” 

Brief scores:
InterGlobe Marine bt Qudran International by eight runs (Super Over).  Qudran International 99 for 8 in 10 overs. (Hameed Khan 42, Asif Mumtaz 5 for 12) Inter Globe Marine 99 for 6 in 10 overs (Yasir Khaleem 35, Vishnu Sukumaran 24, Irshad Hussain 2 for 21)
Super Over InterGlobe Marine 8 for 1 in one over. Qudran International 0 for 2 in 0.3 overs (Asif Mumtaz 2 for 0) 
Man of the Match: Asif Mumtaz 

Quarterfinal 1: Muhammad Hassan turns match-winner again 

In the first match of the day, Group A topper MGM Cricket Club elected to field against Group B’s fourth ranked NFL Falcons. Opener Syed Maqsood, who is one of NFL Falcons consistent batsmen, fell to the fourth ball of the first over, clean bowled by Danish Qureshi for a duck. One-drop Rsafeer Tariq and skipper Hafeez Afridi took the score to 30 in 4.4 overs when Adeel Malik struck to have Rsafeer stumped by wicketkeeper Mayank Kumar for 15. This was followed by a double strike by Muhammad Hassan off successive deliveries in the seventh over. He had Sagheer Afridi caught by by Saifullah Noor for 15 and Hafeez Afridi caught by Rahul Chopra for 11.

Muhammad Hassan struck again to have Abdul Malik caught by Saifullah Noor for a duck. Saifullah Noor took his third catch of the match by having Wajahat Butt out for 16 off Daniesh Qureshi. In the end NFL Falcons could muster only 74 for 7 in 10 overs.

Chasing the target, MGM Cricket Club opener Muhammad Kaleem unleashed his strokes. He hit a quick 42 off just 16 balls with five boundaries and three sixes to put on 64 runs in 4.5 overs. Abdul Malik had Kaleem caught by Hardik Pai but MGM needed only 11 more runs to win. Opener Mayank Kumar (16n.o) and Muhammad Hassan (10n.o) ensured their team’s victory in 5.5 overs. 

Speaking about his fine spell and form that won him the Man of the Match award, Muhammad Hassan said: “I am happy that my form is back. All this has been possible due to the motivation from my teammates. We want to win this tournament and we want to maintain this momentum.”

Brief scores: 
MGM Cricket Club bt NFL Falcons by 9 wkts. NFL Falcons 74 for 7 in 10 overs (Danish Qureshi 2 for 16, Muhammad Hassan 3 for 8) MGM Cricket Club 77 for 1 in 5.5 overs (Muhammad Kaleem 42) 
Man of the Match: Muhammad Hassan