Sharjah Cricket Academy A and Victoria Cricket Academy to clash for the Sharjah CBFS juniors 2022 Under-17 tournament title in final on June 27

By K.R. Nayar

Sharjah Cricket Academy A and Victoria Cricket Academy have emerged as two of the strongest teams in the Sharjah CBFS juniors 2022 Under-17 tournament and they will clash for the title in a final that is expected to be an intensely fought one at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium on Monday (June 27, 2022).

In the first semifinal, Victoria Cricket Academy defeated Sharjah Cricket Academy B by 8 wickets. The star performers were Victoria Cricket Academy’s skipper Deepak Raj, who hit an unbeaten 42 and Dhruv Doultani, who bagged three wickets for 15, and won the Player of the match award.

In the second semifinal too, it was a captain’s allround show. Sharjah Cricket Academy A team’s captain Aayan Afzal Khan cracked an unbeaten 61 and bagged two wickets to ensure his team an eight-wicket win over BE Spartans. Aayan Afzal Khan had also hit a sparkling unbeaten 83 against the spirited YTCA Goltay Academy on his team’s journey to the semifinal.

In the first semifinal between Sharjah Cricket Academy B and Victoria Cricket Academy, Sharjah Cricket Academy elected to bat. They lost their opener Samarath Saxena who was run out to a good fielding from Yousaf Ahmad Khan for 4. One-drop Atta Rahman got out to Naveen Ranganathan for 1. Opener Rayan Khan and skipper Hassan took the score to 37 when Varun struck to remove Rayan Khan for 17. Muhammad Ismail did not last long and got out to Raghav Prabhuram for 2. Ali got caught and bowled by Varun for 3 and half the side was back in the dug-out for 43.

Hassan and Aniq held on to take the score to 66 when Dhruv Doultani picked the valuable wicket of Hassan for 26. He also removed Aniq for 10. When Aliasgar Shums became a Raghav Prabhuram victim for 11, it was doubtful whether Sharjah Academy would cross the 100-run mark. Tomas Philip hit 15 runs to ensure a total of 105 for 9 before becoming Dhruv Doultani’s third victim.

Victoria Cricket Academy, while chasing the moderate total, lost opener Raafey Awazi to Tomas Philip for 7. This was followed by a strong partnership between Yousaf Ahmad Khan and Deepak Raj and took the score to 76 in 11.2 overs. Yousaf Ahmad got out stumped by Samarth Saxena off Aniq for 26. Deepak Raj then took charge and hit an unbeaten 42 runs with seven boundaries and with Mohammed Khan, unbeaten on 13, took their team to the target in 15.1 overs.

In the second semifinal, BE Spartans elected to bat first. They lost opener Hemant Rao to the fourth ball of the first over, caught by wicketkeeper Mudit Agarwal off Zein Mir for a duck. Aayan Afzal Khan, who introduced himself early unlike in earlier matches, took the valuable wicket of BE Spartans’ captain and opener Faisur Rahman. Once again it was wicketkeeper Mudit Agarwal behind this dismissal. He produced a super stumping to end Faisur’s knock for just three runs.

Pratham Maheta and Yayin Kiran Rai took the score to 37 when Harsh Desai was out for 12. Harsh Desai also removed Yayin Kiran Rai for 17. Be Spartans thus slipped to 38 for 4 before the halfway mark. Neeraj Dhumal and Faisal Rehman Soudagar took the score to 81 when Aayan Afzal Khan introduced himself again and ended the partnership. Once again it was the agile and alert wicketkeeper Mudit Agarwal who had Neeraj stumped off Aayan Afzal Khan for 22. Faisal retired at 19 and this was followed by Siddarth Ramesh who hit 14 but got run out to Noorullah Ayoubi.  

Wicketkeeper Mudit Agarwal 

Wicketkeeper Mudit Agarwal figured for the fourth time in a dismissal when he ran out Mahatru Hariharan off a throw from Aryan Saxena for 1. Mudit Agarwal also stumped Hishaan Rajwani off Zainullah Khan for 1 to be thus involved in five dismissals. Zainullah Khan had Moin caught and bowled and had BE Spartans all out for 105 in 19.4 overs.

BE Spartans struck early to have opener Aryan Saxena caught and bowled by Hishaan Rajwani for 1. Mudit Agarwal joined Aayan Afzal Khan who was striking beautifully. Aayan Khan played his pull shots with elegance and also picked the short deliveries to keep the scoreboard moving at a brisk pace. Mudit, who played the supporting role, soon began to unleash his strokes and the pair took the score to 87 by the 14^th over.

Aayan Afzal Khan went on to hit an unbeaten 61 off 48 balls with eight boundaries and a six, and along with Harsh Desai (10n.o) won the match in 15.1 overs and reached the final.

Brief scores:

First semifinal:

Victoria Cricket Academy bt Sharjah Cricket Academy B by 8 wkts. Sharjah Cricket Academy B 105 for 9 in 20 overs (Hassan 26, Raghav Prabhuram 2 for 15, Varun 2 for 21, Dhruv Doultani 3 for 15) Victoria Cricket Academy 106 for 2 in 15.1 overs (Yousaf Ahmad Khan 26, Deepak Raj 42n.o)
Player of the Match: Dhruv Doultani

Second semifinal:

Sharjah Cricket Academy A bt BE Spartans by 8 wkts. BE Spartans 105 in 19.4 overs (Neeraj Dhumal 22, Aayan Afzal Khan 2 for 11, Harsh Desai 2 for 6, Zainullah Khan 2 for 20) Sharjah Cricket Academy A 106 for 2 in 15.1 overs (Aayan Afzal Khan 61n.o, Mudit Agarwal 29)|
Player of the Match:  Aayan Afzal Khan