Dubai: UAE batsman Rameez Shahzad, who has been picked by Bengal Tigers for the upcoming T10 Cricket League is in top form in domestic and international matches.
For the UAE against Zimbabwe A, Rameez had hit 61 runs in the fifth one-day match of the series, and in the Dubai Cricket Council’s Gold Cup tournament he cracked an unbeaten 44 to ensure Bukhatir XI a seven-wicket win over Defenders Cricket Club. Rameez also hit a 16-ball unbeaten 31 in Bukhatir’s emphatic eight wicket win over UBL in the Sharjah T20 Bash.
Shahzad’s form may boost his chances of playing alongside the international stars in the Bengal team. UAE pacer Mohammad Naveed is another in the team. The Bengal team coach Waqar Younis has commenced the process of finding a winning combination and has appointed Anis Sajan as the Bengal Tigers’ team director.
“Two UAE players will be part of every team participating in the T10 league and one UAE player has to be in the playing XI from the squad. With my experience of handling my local team for four years, Waqar has asked me to be the team director,” said Anis, who was the mentor of the Indian team for the Indoor World Cup. “I can also learn from sitting in the dug out with legends of the game like Waqar.”
Meanwhile, in the Dubai Council’s third edition of the League of Mammoths cricket tournament being played at The Sevens ground in Dubai, veterans Shajil Balan and Neeraj Ramamoorthy emerged as match-winners. Balan cracked an unbeaten 53 and took two wickets to guide Nad Al Sheba to an exciting 13-run win over Jumeirah Mammoths. Ramamoorthy’s fine spell of 3 for 30 gave Zabeel Mammoths a four-wicket win over Shindagha Mammoths. Biju Thomas was another star performer with knocks of an unbeaten 53 for Jumeirah Mammoths against Nad Al Sheba. He also produced a five-wicket spell for 11 runs to give Jumeirah a 39-run win over Zabeel.
Shindagha, despite posting 189 through knocks from Lucky Abbas (42) Vinay Tolani (27) and AK Satish (22), lost to Nad Al Sheba by three wickets due to Qais Farooq’s 93.
Brief scores:
Leauge of Mammoths: Nad Al Sheba bt Jumeirah Mammoths by 13 runs. NAS 195 for 6 in 25 overs (Devrajan Srinivasan 54, Shajil Balan 53 n.o.; Manal Siddique 2 for 37) Jumeirah Mammoths 182 for 9 in 25 overs (Biju Thomas 53 n.o., Sameer Khan 26, Adnan Khan 22; Deepak Patel 2 for 17, Shajil Balan 2 for 40, Prashant Shetty 2 for 30). Man of the match: Shajil Balan.
Zabeel Mammoths bt Shindagha Mammoths by 4 wkts. Shindagha 169 for 9 in 25 overs (Vinay Tolani 46 n.o., Raj Dheeraj 37; Neeraj Ramamoorthy 3 for 30, Abhay Singh 3 for 32) Zabeel 174 for 6 in 22.3 overs (Sheldon D’Cruz 43 n.o., Sujit Salian 34 n.o., Jawed Siddique 24; Santosh Salian 3 for 16). Man of the match: Neeraj Ramamoorthy.
Jumeirah Mammoths bt Zabeel Mammoths by 39 runs Jumeirah 157 for 7 in 25 overs (Gaurav Rajkumar 38, Ambey Parwatkar 21, Sameer Khan 21; Abhishek 2 for 16) Zabeel 112 in 21.4 overs (Abhay Chauhan 45, Naveen Punjabi 21; Biju Thomas 5 for 11, Gaurav Rajkumar 2 for 29). Man of the match: Biju Thomas.
Nad Al Sheba Mammoths bt Shindagha Mammoths by 3 wkts. Shindagha 189 in 24.3 overs (Lucky Abbas 42, Vinay Tolani 27, AK Satish 22, Dheeraj Sharma 21, Yuvraj Kurup 20; Deepak Patel 3 for 28) NAS 190 for 7 in 24.1 overs (Qais Farooq 93, Prashant Shetty 35; Sunil Raheja 2 for 17, Vinay Tolani 2 for 34). Man of the match: Qais Farooq.
DCC Gold Cup: Bukhatir XI bt Defenders CC by 7 wkts Defenders 105 in 22 overs (Ali Asad 35, Waseem Rana 30; Hanif Ullah 3 for 19, Rizwan CP 3 for 14, Gopakumar 2 for 17) Bukhatir XI 109 for 3 in 15.4 overs (Rameez Shahzad 44 n.o., Zawar Fareed 33; Ali Asad 2 for 30).
