Dubai: If you are a cricket fan who likes nothing better than soaking up the action at close quarters amidst a shower of sixes and whirlwind centuries, then make sure you don't miss the G Force Premier League cricket tournament at the Zabeel Park cricket ground.
The ongoing Twenty20 tournament has produced some unbelievable performances. One of the finest knocks of the tournament came from Javed Butt of Seven Seas who cracked a stroke-filled 197 off just 68 balls.
Speaking to Gulf News after the knock, Butt, who amazingly did not look tired, said: "It was my day and I connected every shot."
Butt hit 20 sixes and 12 fours against the Rosy Blue attack and helped his team post 299 for 3 in 20 overs. Freddy Sidhwa, the captain of the Seven Seas team, praised Butt: "Very rarely you see such knocks and he deserved a double century."
The tournament also produced one of the highest aggregate scores in a Twenty20 game when the Natural Stones team plundered 303 runs. Interestingly, it has not just been a batsman-dominated tournament either. There have been three instances of bowlers taking five-wicket hauls.
The Rosy Blue's Alanghat Suresh took five wickets against the strong Solanki Construction team. He almost wrecked Solanki's solid batting line-up, taking 5 for 33. Similarly Murtuza of Age Group produced a spell of 5 for 47 and Abdul Wali Khan of Arowana Consultant bagged 5 for 11.
Getting cracking
Another whirlwind knock was Saud Afzal's unbeaten 155 off just 48 balls. He hit 17 towering sixes and seven boundaries during his knock for Natural Stones. That is not to overlook the power-hitting of Solanki Construction's Umar, who hit 134 runs in 61 balls with 13 sixes, and Seven Seas' Asif, who scored 131 runs with 14 sixes.
The tournament is drawing to a close with Seven Seas and Gayan Steel reaching the semifinal. The two quarterfinals clashes between Yogi Group and Solanki Group and Nucaf Tellicherry and Natural Stones are expected to clear the air on the last-four stage.
