Sport | Cricket
Esnaad and Adnoc to meet in final
Esnaad will take on Adnoc Distribution in the final of the 14th Inter Oil Companies Division One Cricket Championship being played at the Abu Dhabi Cricket Council grounds.
- By M. Satya Narayan, Senior Reporter
- Published: 00:01 April 2, 2008
Abu Dhabi: Esnaad will take on Adnoc Distribution in the final of the 14th Inter Oil Companies Division One Cricket Championship being played at the Abu Dhabi Cricket Council grounds.
In Saturday's semifinal, Esnaad knocked out last year's runners-up NPCC and prevented a re-match of the 2007 final. Awaiting them are traditional rivals and defending champions Adnoc Distribution, who got the better of NDC in the second semifinal.
Saturday's final between Adnoc and Esnaad is expected to be a cracker as the defending champions have won this event five times while Esnaad will be attempting to match that feat as they eye their fifth title win. Esnaad scored a 4-wicket win with Habib Ur Rehman playing a lead role in their victory.
Habib picked up four wickets to restrict NPCC to 166 for 8 in 30 overs. Nasir Aziz top scored with 33 while Habib's spell of 4 for 13 in six overs helped Esnaad restrict NPCC.
Brief scores
Esnaad bt NPCC by 4 wickets:
NPCC: 166 for 8 in 30 overs (Faisal Iqbal 21, Aslam Samad 25, Nasir Aziz 33, Rohal Ameen 21 not out, Tauqeer Abbas 28, Habib ur Rehman 4-13).
Esnaad: 168 for 6 in 27.3 overs (Shoaib Khan 28, Mohammad Badshah 32, Niranjan Sanjeev 24, Kamal Rohan 20 not out, Imran Ahmad 2-34)
Man of match: Habib-ur-rehman of NPCC
Adnoc Distribution bt National Drilling Company by 8 wickets:
NDC: 102 all out in 22.3 overs (Mohammad Usman 26, Syed Najum 21, Biju Nair 3-23, Irfan Bashir 2-12, Mohammad Nawas 3-11).
Adnoc Distribution: 103 for 2 in 12.5 overs (Asif Khan 44, Biju Nair 30)
Man of match: Biju Nair of Esnaad
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