Abu Dhabi: Rohan Mustafa and Asif Iqbal both starred with the bat and ball to guide Alubond Tigers and Danube Lions respectively to the final of the Gulf technical Techaccess Cup, the premier 50 over-a-side tournament.
Mustafa smashed 97 and took three wickets to steer Alubond to a resounding seven-wicket win over New Medical Centre (NMC). Iqbal stroked 73 and grabbed four wickets in his team’s victory over Ibsons by 83 runs.
NMC, making first use of the wicket in the day-night encounter at the Zayed Stadium, were bowled out for 204. Shareef Asadullah and Mustafa did most of the damage by taking six wickets between them.
NMC’s opener Fayyaz Ahmad was the topscorer for his team with 60 from 78 deliveries. Shahbaz Ahmad chipped in with 42 in the middle, but the rest of the batsmen failed to provide any significant contributions.
NMC were given an early breakthrough by Jamshed Butt when he held to a return catch to see the back of Shahid Siddique (13) at 20 but a 116-run stand for the second wicket between Mustafa and Gulam Sabir put Alubond in control. Mustafa struck a dozen boundaries and one six in his 94-ball stay at the crease. Sabir’s 57-ball knock was highlighted by seven hits to the fence.
In the other semi-final, also at the Zayed Cricket stadium, Iqbal was the star performer for Danube.
He scored 73 from 79 balls and shared an opening stand of 113 with Gulraiz Sadaf (59 off 84). Iqbal then grabbed four for 48 from 10 overs to send Ibsons crashing to 213 all out in reply to Danube’s 296 for six.
Iqbal’s 79-ball knock contained 10 fours and a six while Sadaf struck six fours.
Brief Scores: Alubond Tigers beat NMC by 7 wickets. New Medical Centre 204 all out in 45.5 overs (Fayyaz Ahmad 60, Shahbaz Ahmad 42, Rohan Mustafa 3-8, Shareef Asadullah 3-33) Alubond Tigers 209 for 3 in 30.4 overs (Rohan Mustafa 97, Gulam Sabir 52)
Danube Lions beat Ibsons by 83 runs. Danube Lions 296 for 6 in 50 overs (Asif Iqbal 73, Gulraiz Sadaf 59, Shaiman Anwar 42, Omaid Asif 3-52) Ibsons 213 all out in 40 overs (Omair Shoukat 69, Shahzad Malik 46, Asif Iqbal 4-48, Ali Afzal 2-24).
