Match winning knocks from Simply Cricket Academy’s Karthik Krishnan and BE Spartans’ Neeraj Dhumal, and fine bowling from Desert Cubs Ishan Rajesh and MS Cricket Academy’s Thaman Sai in the Sharjah CBFS Juniors 2022 tournament

By K.R. Nayar

Ten-year-old Karthik Krishnan, who has often shown tremendous maturity much beyond his age in playing many match-winning knocks in junior cricket, displayed it once again in the Simply Cricket Club’s seven wicket win over Legends Cricket Academy in the Sharjah CBFS Juniors 2022 Under-12 tournament at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium.

Legends Cricket Academy, opting to bat first, had scored 93 for 6 in 20 overs. Though they lost opener and captain Tony Daison and Sameer Salman for 8 and 9 runs respectively, one-drop Parth Yadav hit 20 runs. Umar Salman was run out for a duck but Guruvanshi chipped in with 16 runs.

Simply Cricket Academy began their chase of the moderate total, but it required intelligent batting. Karthik Krishnan and Daylen Ethan D’Souza opened the batting but D’Souza fell for 1. One-drop Abhinav Madhu too got out for 8. Captain Arjun Rattan got run out for 10. After this, Karthik Krishnan scored an unbeaten run-a-ball 31 and took his team to the target along with Naysha Tivari, who remained unbeaten on 14. Simply Cricket Academy won in 12.5 overs.

The Under-14 tournament saw one of the most keenly fought matches. Desert Cubs B scored an exciting five runs win over Maxtalent. In fact, Maxtalent had opted to field first and Desert Cubs B got off to a good start with opener Ethan Jude Carneiro scoring 17 runs and his partner and captain Meher Vinay Paryani scoring 11 runs. They put on 32 runs, but then both fell at that score. One-drop Priyansh Hemal Patel scored 16 runs while Naman Bhatt top scored with 46 runs. His knock off 38 balls had two boundaries and two sixes and Desert Cubs posted 152 for 8 in 20 overs.

Maxtalent began their chase brilliantly scoring 47 runs in 6.4 overs with opener Taha top scoring 39 runs and Sanjith Ram chipping with 11 runs. However, the rest of the batsmen failed to set a good partnership. Skipper Sachin Prakash scored 24 runs, but in the end Maxtalent was restricted to 147 for 9 in 20 overs. Ishan Rajesh of Desert Cubs bagged three wickets for 26 runs to ensure a five-runs victory.

Another Under-14 match between MS Cricket Academy and Sharjah Cricket Academy was also keenly fought. Sharjah Cricket Academy too had opted to bowl first. MS Cricket Academy opener and captain Shashank and Jas Kang scored 15 and 12 runs respectively. This was followed by Krish Poduval (30) and Khush Ranka (28).  In the end MS Cricket Academy posted 167 for 7 in 20 overs.

Sharjah Cricket Academy lost their first three wickets for 36 runs. Captain Fardeen Mujawar took the challenge of taking his team to the target through an unbeaten 40. Owais Anjum scored 14 runs and Muhammad Abdullah hit 25 runs to strengthen their chances of victory. Naseem too scored an unbeaten 30, but unfortunately Sharjah Cricket Academy fell short of the target by 16 runs.  Thaman Sai stood out among bowlers with two wickets for 22 runs.

BE Spartans extended their winning streak through a 41-run win over Maxtalent.  Maxtalent won the toss and elected to field. Be Spartans opener Omar Tauqir sparkled with 25 runs. Though two wickets fell quickly, Neeraj Dhumal played a fine knock of 48 off 21 balls with seven boundaries and two sixes and carried his team to a score of 147 for 6 in 20 overs.

Neeraj Dhumal

Maxtalent lost regular wickets during their chase. The first three batsmen were out for 26 in the first six overs. Opener Gurnish hit 13 runs. The other three batsmen who reached double figures were Sourish Singlawho got run out for 21, Hrishan Majumdar scored 13, and Abhimaan Sharma scored an unbeaten 14. Umesh Krishna stood out among the bowlers with two wickers for 18 runs. Maxtalent thus got restricted to 106 for 9 in 20 overs.

Brief scores:
Under-12
Simply Cricket Club bt Legends Cricket Academy by 7 wkts. Legends Cricket Academy 93 for 6 in 20 overs (Parth Yadav 20)  Simply Cricket Club 96 for 3 in 12.5 overs (Karthik Krishnan 31n.o)
Player of the Match: Karthik Krishnan.

Under-14:
Desert Cubs B bt Maxtalent by five runs.  Deserts Cubs B 152 for 8 in 20 overs (Naman Bhatt 46, Kartikey Ramesh 3 for 32, Sachin Prakash 2 for 25) Maxtalent 147 for 9 in 20 overs (Taha 39, Sachin Prakash 24, Ishan Rajesh 3 for 26, Vivaan Kewlani 2 for 22)
Player of the Match: Ishan Rajesh

MS Cricket Academy bt Sharjah Cricket Academy by 16 runs. MS Cricket Academy 167 for 7 in 20 overs (Krish Poduval 30, Khush Ranka 28, Abdullah Arfan 2 for 18, Muhammad Abdullah 2 for 16) Sharjah Cricket Academy 151 for 6 in 20 overs (Fardeen Mujawar 40n.o, Muhammad Abdullah 25, Naseem 30n.o, Thaman Sai 2 for 22)
Player of the Match: Thaman Sai

BE Spartans bt Maxtalent 41 runs. BE Spartans 147 for 6 in 20 overs (Omar Tauqir 25, Neeraj Dhumal 48, Jaidev Gattani 2 for 24) Maxtalent 106 for 9 in 20 overs (Sourish Singla 21, Umesh Krishna 2 for 18)
Player of the Match: Neeraj Dhumal