Dubai Cricket Council’s DCC Rapid Fire Division One tournament takes off with three nail-biting thrillers

By K.R. Nayar

It was an electrifying start to the revamped Dubai Cricket Council’s first tournament of the season.  The DCC Rapid Fire Division One tournament held at the Sevens Ground on Thursday saw all three matches of the day ending in nail biting thrillers. InterGlobe Marine pulled off a ten runs win over Defenders Cricket Club while Colatta Chocolates recorded a 15 runs victory and 11 ACE beat Colatta Chocolates, who were playing their second successive match of the day, by 14 runs.

 

The hero for InterGlobe Marine was Yasir Kaleem who hit a 55 off just 22 balls studded with five sixes and four boundaries. The match winner for Colatta Chocolates was Syam Ramesh who picked two wickets and scored a valuable unbeaten 32 . 11 ACE’s hero was the aggressive Sagar Kalyan who smashed 85 runs off just 34 balls with seven boundaries and seven sixes. These matches, which were live streamed by ITW that is backing this event, was a delight for the viewers.

Yasir Kaleem’s breezy knock and Asif Khan’s dramatic last over
The curtains of the DCC Rapid Fire Division One tournament went up with Defenders Cricket Club winning the toss and electing to field. Opener Hameed Khan ensured that the first big shot of the tournament was a six by lofting Yasir Maharvi’s fourth delivery over deep mid-wicket. He also followed it up with a boundary off the next ball. Yasir Maharvi struck back by clean bowling Hameed for 11 with the last ball of the first over.

Opener Asif Khan hit Saqib Manshad’s third ball of the first over for a six. He also hit the fourth ball to long-off for another six.  Yasir Kaleem who joined Asif Khan too began to strike aggressively. He hit Farhan Ahmed for a six to long off in the fourth over.  At the score on 52, Asif Khan fell to Malik Nadeem lofting to Ali Abid at long on for 26. Sandeep Singh and Yasir Kaleem took the score to 104 in 7.2 overs when Yasir got caught at long off by Saqib Manshad off Salman Babar for 54. Vishnu Sukumaran joined Sandeep Singh, who went on to hit an unbeaten 31 off 15 balls with four boundaries and a six to ensure a total of 135 for 4 in 10 overs.

Defenders, who had to score over 13 runs an over, lost opener Muhammad Imran at the score on 23. He got caught by Asif Khan at mid-off off Luqman for 13. At the score on 40, Luqman ran out opener Abdullah Azhar for 23. Karnal Zahid then dealt a big blow to Defenders by clean bowling Ali Abid for 12. Touqeer Riyasat made it tougher by clean bowling Rizwan Amanat for 5. 

From 78 for 4 in seven overs, Malik Nadeem and Syed Saqlain tried hard to take the score towards the target. In the ninth over from Danish Qureshi, Syed Saqlain and Malik Nadeem hit sixes. The tenth over bowled by Asif Khan was dramatic with Malik Nadeem hitting his second delivery for a boundary and the fourth for a six. Asif Khan gave away only singles off the fifth and sixth delivery to ensure a 10-run win.  Malik Nadeem remained unbeaten on 47 off 23 balls with three boundaries and four sixes. 

Brief scores:
InterGlobe Marine bt Defenders CC by 10 runs. InterGlobe Marine 135 for 4 in 10 overs (Asif Khan 26, Yasir Kaleem 54, Sandeep Singh 31n.o) Defenders CC 125 for 4 in 10 overs (Abdullah Azhar 23, Malik Nadeem 47n.o) 
Man of the match: Yasir Kaleem

 

Syam Ramesh’s allround show
The Colatta-Chocolates-Future Mattress clash was a low scoring affair. Colatta Chocolates, opting to bat first, posted only 95 for 4 in their ten overs. This was mainly due to the fact that their opener Hari Prasanth got out bowled by Umair Ali for 1 and one-drop Laxman Sreekumar was trapped leg before to Muhammad Azhar for 7. To make matters tougher, skipper Renjith Mani got run out for 10.

Junaid Shamsu and Syam Ramesh regained the run flow and took the score to 78 in 8.5 overs before Shamsu got caught by Alishan Sharafu at long-off off Tassawar Jammu for 20. Syam Ramesh remained unbeaten on 32 off 19 balls with three boundaries and six. Mohtasim Jakti too chipped in with an unbeaten 11 to ensure a total of 95 for 4 in 10 overs.

Chasing the target, Future Mattress kept losing wickets at times when they looked to be consolidating their position. The first to go was their star batsman and captain Rohan Mustafa at the score on 19 run out by Gopakumar Gopalakrishan, who was electrifying on the field yesterday.  Opener Waqar Ahmad too got out run out by Mohammed Rizwan Sabir for 9.

Gopakumar struck in the fifth over removing the young Alishan Sharafu caught at cover by Muhammad Zeeshan for 9 at the score on 35. At the same score, Gopakumar ran out Uzair Khan for a duck. One run later, Gopakumar also trapped Mohammad Ikram leg before for 6. Umair Ali held on to take the score to 49 before falling for 10 to Mohammad Rizwan Sabir.

Muhammad Azhar chipped in with ten runs to take the score to 61 before getting out to Muhammad Zeeshan Butt. Syam Ramesh then struck to remove Asif Hayat for 4. One run later, Bilal Cheema got bowled by Junaid Shamsu for 7.  Later, Shyam Ramesh clean bowled Mati Khan for 5 to secure Colatta Chocolates a win by 15 runs.

Brief scores:
Colatta Chocolates bt Future Mattress by 15 runs.  Colatta Chocolates 95 for 4 in 10 overs (Junaid Shamsu 20, Shyam Ramesh 32n.o) Future Mattress 80 in 9.4 overs (Umair Ali 10, Muhammad Azhar 10, Gopakumar Gopalakrishnan 2 for 12, Shyam Ramesh 2 for 10)  
Man of the match: Syam Ramesh 

 

Sagar Kalyan’s breezy knock boosts 11 ACE

Colatta Chocolates, playing their second match of the day, lost by a slender margin of 14 runs to 11 ACE mainly due to Sagar Kalyan’s breezy knock. 11 Ace opener Sagar Kalyan set ablaze the Sevens ground with a breezy knock of 85 off 34 balls with seven boundaries and seven sixes. 

Electing to bat first, 11 Ace lost opener Usman Khan stumped by wicketkeeper Hari Prasanth off Gopakumar Gopalakrishnan for 10. Khalid Shah too became another Gopakumar Gopalakrishnan victim for a duck. Skipper Kaunain Abbas added another ten runs with Sagar Kalyan before falling for 6 to Gopakumar Gopalakrishnan. Though Rahul got run out to Shyam Ramesh for 4, Sagar Kalyan kept the score moving and took the total to 118 for 4 in 10 overs.  

Chasing the target, Colatta Chocoates got off to a good start with the openers putting on 49 runs in 4.2 overs. Hari Prasanth, who hit 30 off 15 balls with two sixes and a boundary, got bowled to Keshav Sharma. At the score on 66, Shyam Ramesh was bowled out by Ahmed Shah for 16. Skipper Renjit Mani, who was striking well, got run out for 10 to the agile Nilansh Keswani throw. At the same score, their star batsman Junaid Shamsu got bowled by Rahul for a duck.

When half the side was back in the pavilion, Laxman Sreekumar too got bowled by Nilansh Keswani for 12. Two runs later Mohtasim Jakti was bowled by Ahmed Shah for 3. As the Colatta Chocolates wickets kept falling, it was clear that pressure was getting on to them. To make matters worse, Gopakumar Gopalakrishnan too got run out by Khalid Shah for 3. When Rahul Khanna got Intizaar Ali also run out, Colatta Chocolates’ chase ended at 104 for 9 to lose the match by 14 runs.

Brief scores:
11 Ace bt Colatta Chocolates by 14 runs. Eleven Ace 118 for 4 in 10 overs (Sagar Kalyan 85n.o, Gopakumar Gopalakrishnan 3 for 9) Colatta Chocolates 104 for 9 in 10 overs (Hari Prasanth 30, Ahmed Shah 3 for 14)
Man of the match: Sagar Kalyan