Dubai: Fly Emirates, Multiplex, NTDE and Wombats registered convincing victories in the opening round of the Power Horse T20 cricket tournament held under the auspices of the Dubai Cricket Council and organised by Power Horse Energy Drinks and managed by CricOn Sports Services.
While NTDE defeated Chargers by 35 runs, Wombats ousted Etihad Airways by seven wickets. In the opening match, NTDE taking the first share of the crease managed 89 runs in 18.4 overs with three batsmen reaching double figures. Fawad Ali scored 30 from 41 balls while Nasir Hayat and Abdul Ghani settled for an identical score of 12.
For Chargers, Adnan Mohammad did most of the damage claiming four wickets in his four overs while all the other bowlers picked up a wicket each. Despite chasing a modest total, Chargers batsmen were all at sea right from the start and were simply blown away by the NTDE bowling attack. Fawad Ghafoor was the top scorer with 10 which meant the rest of the batsmen succumbed on single digit scores. Fawad Ali and Muneeb Amjad scalped three wickets each while Mohammad Amjad claimed two as Chargers were shot out for a paltry 54 in 17.1 overs.
In the second match, skipper Touseef Qadri scored a 41-ball 46 supported by four boundaries and a six while Mohammad Ali smashed 41 from 37 deliveries including two boundaries as Wombats comfortably defeated Etihad Airways by seven wickets.
Batting first, Etihad Airways scored 134 from nine in 20 overs with Abu Backer (23) and Khurram Ejaz (22) among the scorers. Wombats got across the line in 18.2 overs losing just three wickets.
