Dubai: Armchair Boys team made up of UAE journalists defeated Dubai Cricket Council (DCC) 40’s club by 38 runs in a friendly match held at the 7evens Cricket Ground.
DCC elected to field after winning the toss. Armchair Boys captain A.K.S. Satish and Joy Chakravarty opened the innings and put on 28 runs before Joy was run out for 8. Satish went for his shots and hit three boundaries in his 19 runs before Freddy Sidhwa’s gentle left-arm spin bowled him. Arshad Abubakar too hit three boundaries in his 19 runs before Niranjan Chawla had him bowled.
Gopal Jasapara kept the scoreboard moving with Shyam Krishna to steer Armchair Boys to a strong position. They put on a 50 runs partnership for the fourth wicket. Shyam was trapped leg-before by Shiva Pagarani for 21 runs off 25 balls with three boundaries. Hard-hitter Jai Prasad V. Rai hit a 15-ball unbeaten 21 runs. Jasapara missed his half century by three runs, falling to veteran pacer CTK Nasir. His 47 off 33 balls contained four boundaries. With Ahmad Rizvi unbeaten on five, Armchair Boys posted a challenging 154 for 5 in 20 overs.
Chasing the total, DCC lost an early wicket when left-arm pacer Shihab Majeed had Freddy caught and bowled for 1. The DCC batsmen found the pace of Jai Prasad too tough to handle. He trapped Nalin Khaitan leg before for 10 and then clean bowled Raj Gopal Sukumar for 1. Meanwhile, Jasapara trapped Nasir leg before for 12. Next man Amandeep Singh got stumped by wicketkeeper Sunil Vaidya off Ameet Passela for 16.
Ranjeev Chavan top-scored with 24 runs before Rizvi had him bowled. Paseela’s accurate line and length fetched him the wicket of Niranjan. Pagarani along with DCC secretary Amin Farooq tried hard to push their team towards the target but Satish picked the wicket of Pagarani to ensure an impressive victory for his team. Farooq remained unbeaten on nine as DCC were restricted to 116 for 8 in 20 overs. Jasapara bagged the man of the match award.
