UAE’s two outstanding cricketers Asif Khan and Rohan Mustafa shine and carry their teams InterGlobe Marine and Future Mattress into the Cup final of the Bukhatir S10 league powered by Fancode

By K.R. Nayar

UAE’s two outstanding cricketers Asif Khan and Rohan Mustafa produced sterling performances to carry their teams into the Cup final of the Bukhatir S10 league powered by Fancode at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium. Asif Khan cracked a whirlwind unbeaten knock of 76 off 31 balls with eight boundaries and five sixes to ensure a 71-runs win over Brothers Gas. In another semifinal match, Rohan Mustafa destroyed the top order of The Vision Shipping and ensured a six-wicket win for Future Mattress.


In the first semifinal match, Future Mattress opted to field and had The Vision Shipping’s opener Saqib Mehmood caught by Haider Ali at deep mid-wicket for 9 off Umair Ali. In the fourth over, Rohan Mustafa clean bowled Malik Nadeem for 25 at the score on 41.  Three more wickets fell at the score on 41 when Mustafa went on to clean bowl Shahbaz Ali for a duck and had Junaid Shamsu caught and bowled for another duck. Haider Ali also had Fayaz Frank out for 6 caught by Abdul Ghaffar at short third man.  Waheed Ahmed and Irad Ali took the score to 87 before Waheed got run out for 19. Irad Ali hit 28 runs and fell to Haider Ali. The Vision Shipping was thus all out for 106 in 9.5 overs.


The Future Mattress lost the valuable wicket of opener Rohan Mustafa for 3 when he was caught by Junaid Shamsu at long-off off Shahbaz Ali. Opener Ansar Khan went for his shots and scored 25 runs but soon fell to Saqib Mehmood caught by Malik Nadeem at short third man. At the score on 37, one-drop Usman fell to Sajjad Malook caught by Junaid Shamsu at long-on. Amjad Gul took charge and accelerated the run flow and took the score to 98 before being bowled by Shahbaz Ali for 48. His knock off 23 balls had six sixers and one boundary. After Gul fell, Mohammad Ikram (17n.o) and Syed Haider Shah (10n.o) took Future Mattress to the target with three balls to spare.

The second semifinal was a fine exhibition of InterGlobe Marine’s batting strength. Brothers Gas opted to field and InterGlobe Marine got off to a breezy start. Opener Sandeep Singh in his usual aggressive style cracked a 50 in just 18 balls with six boundaries and four sixes. He fell at the score of 98 in 5.3 overs getting caught by Waseem Akram off Mujahid Amin.  The consistent Yasir Kaleem joined Asif Khan and put on a 61 runs partnership for the second wicket before he was caught by Nasir Faraz at deep extra cover off Muhammad Azhar for 31. His knock off just 10 balls had four sixes and one boundary. Asif Khan remained unbeaten on 76 as InterGlobe Marine posted a whopping 160 for 2 in 10 overs.

In this crucial encounter, Brothers Gas began on a bad note. They lost their opener Usman Khan in the second over to Asif Mumtaz for 14. In the same over, Asif Mumtaz clean bowled opener Hamdan Tahir for 9. In the third over, Zahid had Umer Farooq caught behind by wicketkeeper Yasir Kaleem for a duck. Asif Mumtaz kept striking again and removed Muhammad Afzal for 16 and Jiju Janardhanan for 1. Half the Brothers Gas batsmen were back in the dug-out for 44 in 3.5 overs. Nasir Faraz (21) and Muhammad Azhar (14) withstood the attack for some time before their team got restricted to 89 for 8 in 10 overs.

Brief scores:

Semifinal 1: Future Mattress bt The Vision Shipping by 6 wkts. The Vision Shipping 106 in 9.5 overs (Malik Nadeem 25, Irad Ali 28, Rohan Mustafa 3 for 19, Haider Ali 2 for 19) Future Mattress 109 for 4 in 9.3 overs (Ansar Khan 25, Amjad Gul 48, Shabaz Ali 2 for 16)
PSM Player of the Match: Rohan Mustafa

Semifinal 2: InterGlobe Marine bt Brothers Gas by 71 runs. InterGlobe Marine 160 for 2 in 10 overs (Sandeep Singh 50, Asif Khan 76n.o, Yasir Kaleem 31) Brothers Gas 89 for 8 (Nasir Faraz 21, Asif Mumtaz 4 for 19)
PSM Player of the Match: Asif Khan

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