Sharjah: Two new champions were crowned in the under-17 and under-13 categories of the sixth edition of Maxtalent Global Vision Cup inter-school cricket tournament. Indian High School, Dubai emerged as champions in the Under-17 category while Our Own English High School, Sharjah lifted the Under-13 title.
The results ended the domination of Dubai Modern High School and Delhi Private School (DPS), Sharjah who had bagged the two titles in the earlier five editions. The Delhi Private School, Sharjah reached the Under-13 final, but lost to Our Own High School, Sharjah by six wickets.
It was a sad end for the Ibn Seena School, who had ousted champions Dubai Modern in the Under-17 semi-final, when they lost to the Indian High School, Dubai by 60 runs in the final.
Efforts rewarded
Speaking to Gulf News, Jay Joshi, skipper of the Indian High School, who led from the front to also bag the player of the tournament award, said: "We desperately wanted to win this tournament following our many attempts earlier. We put everything into it and worked hard towards it and are delighted to have done it. We had a balanced side and our hard practice under coach Ajith Singh every morning has been rewarded."
Mehdi Raza, skipper of Our Own English High School, who produced a brilliant spell of five wickets for eight runs in the semi-final against Dubai Modern School to place his team in the Under-13 final, said: "Our tight bowling backed by brilliant fielding won us the tournament."
The day's action began at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium with the Under-17 final. In front of a stadium filled with vociferous supporters of both the finalists, Ibn Seena won the toss and elected to field.
Indian High School opener Shaun Kachroo hit 31 off 32 balls to keep the score board ticking despite wickets falling regularly. Ibn Seena's spinner Mohammad Usama bagged three wickets for 12 runs, and was backed by Abdur Rahman and Mohammad Irfan who clinched two wickets each. Ridge chipped in with 23 runs to ensure Indian High School put up a fighting total of 117 runs in the allotted 25 overs.
Chasing the moderate total, Ibn Seena virtually ran themselves out of the match, with four of their batsmen getting run out. Jay Joshi and Arjun Manohar took two wickets each to bowl out Ibn Seena for just 57 runs in 13 overs.
In the Under-13 final, DPS Sharjah were bowled out for 71 runs with Our Own skipper Mehdi Raza and Mujaiba bagging three wickets each. Our Own's Mohammad Afzal, who went on to bag the player of the tournament award, cracked an unbeaten 41. Though DPS' Devnath took two wickets to check the run flow, Our Own won in 16 overs.
Mazhar Khan, the chief administrator of the Emirates Cricket Board, gave away the prizes.
Brief scores:
Under-17 final: Indian High School, Dubai beat Ibn Seena by 60 runs.
Indian High School: 117 in 25 overs (Shaun Kachroo 31, M. Ridge 23, Mohammad Usama 3 for 12, Mohammad Irfan 2 for 16, Abdul Rahman 2 for 22). Ibn Seena: 57 in 13 overs (Abdul Rahman 18, Arjun Manohar 2 for 7, Jay Joshi 2 for 10). Player of the final: M. Ridge.
Under-13 final: Our Own High School, Sharjah beat Delhi Private School, Sharjah by six wickets.
DPS Sharjah: 71 in 18 overs (Mehdi Raza 3 for 16, Mujaiba 3 for 9). Our Own High School, Sharjah: 73 for 4 in 16 overs (Mohammad Afzal 41n.o., Devnath 2 for 16). Player of the final: Mohammad Afzal.
