Swapnil, Shaiman slam superb half-centuries

Sharjah: Swapnil Patil and Shaiman Butt slammed superb half-centuries to guide Yogi Group to a facile 61-run victory over Fly Emirates in a quarter-final match of the 23rd Sharjah Ramadan Tournament for the Interface Transworld Cup at the Sharjah stadium.

Patil, the former Mumbai Ranji Trophy player, scored 56 off as many balls with two fours and three sixes while Butt, the more aggressive of the two, made 54 off just 33 balls with four fours and three sixes as Yogi Group, batting first, put up a decent 166 before being all out in the 25th over.

Nigel Fernandes returned with a rare five-wicket haul and Amjad Javed picked up three wickets for 14 runs, but their efforts failed to prevent Yogi Group from seizing the early initiative.Fly Emirates, in reply, were let down by their batsmen who just failed to negotiate a spot-on Yogi Group attack.

In the 9th Dulsco Ramadan tournament at Zabeel Park in Dubai, Emirates NBD and Active IT Distribution will meet each other to decide who will top Pool E in the tournament.

Both teams have won their earlier matches. In another important match today, United Arab Bank will take on NTDE.

Bried scores

Yogi Group bt Fly Emirates by 61 runs: Yogi Group 166 all out in 24.4 overs

(Swapnil Patil 56, Shaiman Butt 54; Nigel Fernandes 5-22, Amjad Javed 3-14) Fly Emirates 105 all out in 18.2 overs (Lalith Dahanayake 33 not out, Mohammed Iqbal 21; Salman Faris 3-30, Kamran Shehzad 3-18, Ambey Parwatkar 3-30). Man of the Match: Salman Faris of Yogi Group.