Dubai: Shiv Mehra hogged the limelight in the Dubai Cricket Council's Cricket for Care Inter Academy with a sterling all-round performance.
The 14-year-old allrounder seems to follow in his father's footsteps to fame. He is the son of Vijay Mehra, who had made a mark in Indian cricket, opening for North Zone with Navjot Singh Sidhu and was UAE's consistent batsman in the 1996 World Cup.
Shiv, who is also an opening batsman and captains the Young Talent Cricket Academy hit an unbeaten 79 off 55 balls studded with 11 boundaries to help Young Talent beat Emirates Cricket Training (ECT), Dubai. Though ECT posted 200 for 7 through Divyendu Sekhar's unbeaten 78, Young Talents reached the target losing just four wickets. Incidentally, Sekhar has been in superb form and had hit an unbeaten 77 to steer Delhi Private School, Sharjah to title triumph in the Max Talent inter school tournament.
Right basics
Shiv bats right hand but bowls left arm spin. In another match, though he picked three wickets for 40 runs, Young Talents lost to Desert Cubs Cricket Academy Incidentally, Shiv is being coached by Shehzad Altaf, who along with Mehra had played in the 1996 World Cup.
"Though I taught him the basics it is Altaf who is shaping him into a cricketer," remarked Mehra, who watched his son carry his bat through during his knock of 79 runs.
Other star performers of the week are Kulith Rabel of Desert Cubs Cricket Academy and Nassim Hassan of Al Ain Sportsplex. Rabel hit 61 to steer Desert Cubs to five wicket win over Young Talents.
Hassan's unbeaten 75 guided Al Ain to six-wicket win over Sharjah Cricket Academy.
Summarised scores
MCC Zayed Cricket Academy bt Unique Cricket Training by seven wkts.
Unique Cricket Training 92(Yashasuin Harathi 25, Moiz Qazi 3 for 18, Simon Quadros 3 for 15) Zayed Cricket Academy 94 for 3 (Sri Ram 24, Asad Ali 2 for 20)
Man of the Match: Sri Ram.
Young Talent Cricket Academy bt ECT Dubai by six wkts.
ECT Dubai 200 for 7 (Anantha Gopakumar 29, Divyendu Sekhar 78 n.o, Ravi Raj 4 for 28)
Young Talent Cricket Academy 201 for 4 (Shiv Mehra 79n.o) Man of the Match: Shiv Mehra.
Desert Cricket Academy bt Young Talent Cricket Academy by five wkts. Young Talent Cricket Academy 175 for 5 (Sreenivasan Sharma 34, Liam Karlsson 35, Sanjhosh Satya 54 n.o, Shamith Jayawardana 3 for 19)
Desert Cricket Academy 176 for 5 (Nelukshan De Silva 30, Kulith Rabel 61n.o, Zafri Zafardeen 25, Waruna Perera 30, Shiv Mehra 3 for 40)
Man of the Match: Kulith Rabel.
Al Ain Sportsplex bt Sharjah Cricket Academy Sharjah Cricket Academy 170 for 3 (Shanahan Khan 71, Salah Shakil 61) Al Ain Sportsplex 171 for 4 ( Nasim Hassan 75n.o, Joy Raj 2 for 26) Man of the Match: Nasim Hassan
