Prim Heights Transport and Alubond Tigers stun favourites to breeze into semifinals

By K.R. Nayar

It was a day of upsets at the CBFS powered by Fancode S10 tournament at Sharjah Cricket Stadium on Wednesday. Unfancied Prim Heights Transport shocked Brothers Gas to win by four wickets in the first match of the day and in the second match Alubond Tigers stunned Fair Deal Defenders, who were unbeaten in this event, by five wickets. 

It was Mehboob Ali’s spell of two wickets for five runs that set the tempo to restrict Brothers Gas’ strong batting line up to 86 for 8 and race into the semifinal. In Alubond’s victory, their opener Sagar Kalyan, through a breezy 38, that included 32 runs in one over, chased down Fair Deal Defenders’ impressive total of 123 for 5 in 8.1 overs.

Quarterfinal 3: None expected Group A’s third ranked Prim Heights Transport to outplay Brothers Gas, who were the runners up of CBFS T20 tournament and had finished second in Group B. Prim Heights won the toss and elected to field.  Brothers Gas’ opener Usman Khan began in his usual aggressive manner hitting 16 runs from the seven balls he faced which included a six and two boundaries. Mehboob Ali did not allow Usman to go on and had him caught by Amjad Gul at mid-off.

One-drop Jiju Jandardhanan lasted only six balls and scored just one run before he got caught by Riaz Khaliq at mid-wicket off Asmat Ullah. Mehboob Ali struck again to have Dawood Ejaz caught by Asmat Ullah at cover for 9. Soon opener Hamdan Tahir too followed flicking Asmat Ullah into the hand of Irfan Khattak for 5. Half the side was back in pavilion for 29 in 5.3 overs when Tanvir Javed got caught by Amjad Khan at mid-off off Muhammad Arshad for 3.

Muhammad Afzal and Umer Farooq battled hard  and put on 45 runs for the sixth wicket and take the score to 74. Afzal scored majority of the runs and cracked 37 runs off 19 balls with four boundaries and two sixes before he got bowled by Irfan Khattak. Seven runs later, Umer Farooq too followed caught and bowled by Hazrat Bilal for 13 runs. Hazrat Bilal went on to have Muhammad Azhar caught by Amjad Gul for a duck and Brothers Gas got restricted to 86 for 8 in 10 overs.

Brothers Gas needed to pick quick wickets if they had to defend their small total.  With the fourth ball of the first over they had opener Waqas Ahmad caught by Umer Farooq off M Zahid for 8.  Skipper Rafeeq Zaman and Amjad Khan played with caution and took the score to 32 before Jiju Janardhanan had Amjad Khan caught by Zahid for 15. 

Amjad Gul, who has played many responsible knocks for his team in the past, did it again. He hit an invaluable 21 runs with two sixes and one boundary to take the score to 64 in 6.3 overs. Though Mujahid Amin had Gul caught behind by wicketkeeper Hamdan Tahir, Rafeez kept the score board moving. Despite Umer Farooq having clean bowled Ateeq Ur Rehman for 5 and Zahid bowling out Mehboob Ali for 8 and Riaz Khaliq for a duck, Rafeez Zaman ensured that his team reached the target through an unbeaten 19 off 17 balls with three boundaries. Prim Heights Transport thus won the match with five balls to spare. 

Speaking about his fine spell that won him the Man of the Match award, Mehboob Ali said: “I felt it is my role to bowl well and I am happy we could beat such a strong side. We had planned to get Brothers Gas out for around 100 but we managed to restrict them to 86. All of us bowled well and I dedicate my man of the match award to my bowling coach Humayun bhai.”

Brief scores:
Prim Heights Transport bt Brothers Gas by 4 wkts. Brothers Gas 86 for 8 in 10 overs (Muhammad Afzal 37. Mehboob Ali 2 for 5, Asmat Ullah 2 for 6, Hazrat Bilal 2 for 25) Prim Height Transport 90 for 6 in 9.1 overs (Amjad Gul 21, M Zahid 3 for 22) 
Man of the Match: Mehboob Ali 

Quarterfinal 4: Fair Deal Defenders, who had topped Group B through their unbeaten run in the group matches, won the toss and elected to bat against Group A’s fourth ranked team Alubond Tigers. Openers Muhammad Imran and Wajid Khan put on 23 runs in 1.5 overs before skipper Nazir Aziz clean bowled Imran for 11.

Salman Babar along with Wajid Khan scored briskly and took the score to 62 in 4.5 overs before Salman got bowled by Harshit Khushik for 14. This was followed by a 43-runs partnership between Wajid Khan and Rizwan Amanat. At the score on 105, Rizwan fell slicing Adnan Danish to Asadullah Sharif at third man for 26.  His knock off 11 balls had three sixes and one boundary. Wajid Khan too fell at the same score brilliantly caught by skipper Nazir Aziz at the deep mid-wicket for 46. His knock off 20 balls had four sixes and three boundaries. Syed Saqlain got caught at long off by Khalid Ibrahim off Asadullah Sharif and Fair Deal Defenders posted 123 for 5 in 10 overs. 

Alubond Tigers began their chase well scoring 16 runs off the first over from Wajid Khan.  It was opener Khalid Shah who announced his team’s intentions of chasing down the score through some delectable shots.  Sagar Kalyan then took charge. The pair put on their 50 runs partnership in 2.4 overs. 

Sagar Kalyan went on to produce one of the most aggressive demolitions of a bowling attack. He hit skipper Yasir Maharvi for 32 runs in an over. His shot sequence read 6,6,4,4,6,6. At the score on 73 off just 3.3 overs, Khalid Shah fell caught at short third man by Salman Babar off Farhan Ahmad for 32 off just 12 balls with five boundaries and two sixes. Two runs later, Sagar Kalyan too fell for 38, trapped leg before by Rizwan Amanat for 38 off 11 balls with three fours and four sixes.

Ansh Tandon and Khalid Ibrahim ensured that the momentum given by their openers was maintained. They took the score past the 100 run mark with Khalid Ibrahim in full flow. He hit 28 runs off eight balls with three sixes and two boundaries before getting bowled to Farhan Ahmad. Ansh Tandon too fell for 11 bowled by Mohammad Jamshad. Though Adnan Danish was run out for 2, skipper Nazir Aziz walked in and hit a boundary to level the score and together with Harshit Khushik (6n.o) they took the team to the target in 8.1 overs.

Speaking about his breezy knock, Sagar Kalyan who won the Man of the Match award, said: “I have hit 36 runs in one over twice before and happy I managed to hit 32 runs in one over today and put my team on the path to victory. I played those shots due to the confidence given by my opening partner Khalid Shah. Anyone can win in this tournament and God willing it will be us. We are all in full confidence to win. I dedicate my Man of the Match award to our coach Shehzad Altaf.”

Brief scores:
Alubond Tigers bt Fair Deal Defenders by 5 wkts. Fair Deal Defenders 123 for 5 in 10 overs (Wajid Khan 46, Rizwan Amanat 26) Alubond Tigers 129 for 5 in 8.1 overs (Sagar Kalyan 38, Khalid Shah 32, Khalid Ibrahim 28, Farhan Ahmad 2 for 25) 
Man of the Match : Sagar Kalyan