Muhammad Afzal’s unbeaten 73 lifts Karwan Cricket Club to victory while Touqeer Riyasat’s five wicket spell helps InterGlobe Marine win in the Sharjah Ramadan Cup T20 tournament

By K.R. Nayar

Muhammad Afzal cracked an unbeaten 73 to lift Karwan Cricket Club to a 30-runs victory over Our Souq Cricket Club in the 20th match of the 34th Sharjah Ramadan Cup T20 tournament at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium. Karwan Cricket Club posted 217 for 5 through Afzal's knock and restricted Our Souq Cricket Club to 187 for 8 in 20 overs.

 

In the 21st match, InterGlobe Marine recorded a 32-runs win over Ajman Heroes through Touqeer Riyasat’s five-wicket spell that restricted Ajman to 105 in 20 overs. InterGlobe Marine had posted 137 in 19.2 overs despite Ajman’s Nazir Aziz bagging four wickets for 27 runs.

 

Muhammad Afzal cracks unbeaten 73 in Karwan Cricket Club’s win

 

Karwan Cricket Club won the toss and elected to bat. Opener Qamar Awan and Abuzar Tariq put on 23 runs in 2.3 overs before Qamar Awan got out to Hirantha Baddage for 5. Abuzar Tariq along with Moazam Hayat took the score to 67. The consistent Abuzar, who did the bulk of the scoring by hitting 55 runs, got out to Pubudu Chaturanga. His knock off 23 balls had six boundries and four sixes.

 

When Karwan Cricket Club was two shot of the 100 run mark, Furqan Khalil got trapped leg before to Pubudu Chaturanga for 20. At the score of 104, Moazam Hayat got out to Fadi Jaffer for 16. This was followed by a stupendous knock from Muhammad Afzal. Waqas Ali and Muhammad Afzal took the score to 165 in 15.3 overs before Waqas got out to Fadi Jaffer for 22. The score swelled to 217 for 5 in 20 overs with Muhammad Afzal remaining unbeaten on 73 off 34 balls with seven boundaries and four sixes and Haris Khanzada remaining unbeaten on 19.

 

Chasing the score, Our Souq Cricket Club got off to a brilliant start. Openers  Muhammad Arif and Saad Refai put on a 125-runs opening partnership in 11.5 overs.  Salman Saleem provided the breakthrough removing Muhammad Arif for 74. His knock off 39 balls had seven boundaries and five sixes. Four runs later, one-drop Ravindu Rathnayake got bowled to Qamar Awan for 2. At the score of 130, skipper Harsha Gihan got bowled by Zahid for 1. The fall of these quick wickets affected Our Souq’s run flow.

 

Pubudu Chaturanga pushed the score to 169 in 17 overs before getting bowled to Qamar Awan for 18. At the same score, Saad Refai, who carried the hopes of Our Souq Club, got out to Babar Iqbal for 63. His knock off 44 balls had six boundaries and two sixes. When Haris Khanzada struck twice to clean bowl Abduallah khan for 2 and Hirantha Baddage for 3, Karwan Cricket Club took a firm grip on the match. Mian Kashif got bowled by Moazam Hayat for 6 to the second ball of the last over and in the end, Our Souq Cricket Club could muster only 187 for 8 and lost the match by 30 runs.

 

Brief scores:

Karwan Cricket Club bt Our Souq Cricket Club by 30 runs. Karwan Cricket Club 217 for 5 in  20 overs (Abuzar Tariq 55, Furqan Khalil 20, Muhammad Afzal 73n.o, Waqas Ali 22, Pubudu Chaturanga 2 for 23, Fadi Jaffer 2 for 34) Our Souq Cricket Club 187 for 8 in 20 overs (Saad Refai 63, Muhammad Arif 74, Haris Khanzada 2 for 30, Qamar Awan 2 for 28) 
Player of the Match: Muhammad Afzal

 

Touqeer Riyasat bowls InterGlobe Marine to victory

 

Ajman Heroes won the toss and elected to field. InterGlobe Marine’s opener and hard-hitter Sandeep Singh was clean bowled by Sameer Chand for 4 at the score of 13. Opener Salman Khan and Yasir Kaleem took the score to 62 before Salman Khan got out to Nasir Aziz for 43. His knock off 29 balls had three boundaries and three sixes. Five runs later, Vishnu Sukumaran got trapped leg before to Harshit Kaushik for 2. Yasir Kaleem with Touqeer Riyasat took the score to 104 in 14.5 overs before Yasir got bowled by Ankur Sangwan for 34. At the same score, Hameed Khan got clean bowled by Ankur Sangwan for a duck.

 

Touqeer Riyasat became the sixth wicket to fall at the score of 111 to Harshit Kaushik for 14. Seven runs later, Nazir Aziz struck thrice. Danish Qureshi became another Nasir Aziz victim for 7. Skipper Asif Mumtaz fell trapped leg before by Nasir Aziz for a duck and Mohammad Taimoor was bowled Nasir Aziz for another duck. InterGlobe Marine was thus  all out for 137 in 19.2 overs after Shahid Aziz got out to Sameer Chand for 25.

 

Ajman Heroes chased the gettable total on a bad note. They lost their opener Sagar Kalyam to the fourth ball of the first over, run out for 1.  Opener Adnan Ul Mulk got out to Touqeer Riyasat for 2. They also lost their consistent batsman Rahul Chopra trapped leg before by Mohammad Taimoor for 1. Faisal Baig followed, caught behind by wicketkeeper Sandeep Singh off Touqeer Riyasat for 17. When Jeevan Gangadharan too got trapped leg before to Mohammad Taimoor, half the Ajman Heroes batters was  back in the dug-out for just 28 runs in 9.1 overs.

 

A fighting partnership between Harshit Kaushik and Mohammad Ajmal followed that took the score to 97 in 17.1 overs. Touqeer Riyasat ended that partnership removing Harshit Kaushik for 28. Mohammad Ajmal then fell to Riyasat for 38. Usman Mani too became another Riyasat victim for a duck. At the score of 100, Nasir Aziz fell to Mohammad Taimoor for 2 and when Sameer Chand got run out 4 to the last ball of the innings, Ajman Heroes thus got bowled out for 105 in 20 overs.

 

Brief scores:
InterGlobe Marine bt Ajman Heroes by 32 runs.  InterGlobe Marine 137 in 19.2 overs (Salman Khan 43, Yasir Kaleem 34, Shahid Aziz 25, Sameer Chand 2 for 28, Nasir Aziz 4 for 27, Harshit Kaushik 2 for 42, Ankur Sangwan 2 for 4) Ajman Heroes 105 in 20 overs (Mohammad Ajmal 38, Harshit Kaushik 28, Mohammad Taimoor 3 for 12, Touqeer Riyasat 5 for 14) 
Player of the Match: Touqeer Riyasat