Gulf News-Mr Cricket UAE T20 World Cup Quiz keeps participants in thrall

The T20 World Cup in the UAE may be just the final match away from the curtains coming down on Sunday, but it’s impact seemed a lasting one on the gaggle of young participants at the ‘Powerplay T20 World Cup Quiz in UAE,’ presented by Gulf News and Mr Cricket UAE Anis Sajan on Saturday morning.

The two-hour enthralling quiz brought out the best in the participants of eight teams while the fans in attendance at the banquet hall of The Address Hotel Marina showed they were not to be outdone as well. They handled the tricky ones, right down to googlies like who was the highest wicket-taker for India against Pakistan (as no Pakistan wicket fell during their chase), were hardly missed.

Pakistan came out winners in the final with Afghanistan emerging as the runners-up. Pakistan had earlier pipped England in the first semi-final while Afghanistan got the better of Bangladesh in the other semi-final. ‘‘After the semi-final defeat on the ground, this event has given us a lot of joy. We thank Gulf News and Mr Cricket UAE Anis Sajan for giving us this wonderful opportunity,’’ said Qasim Ali of the winning team.

Speaking before the start of the quiz, Abdul Hamid Ahmad, CEO & Editor-in-Chief of Gulf News, said: ‘’It’s a fun day. I can see the participants are very excited and let’s hope we have a good event.’’

Mr Cricket UAE Anis Sajan, Vice-Chairman of Danube Group and a livewire among the quizmasters, was all pumped up and his enthusiasm was infectious. ‘’The final of T20 World Cup may be played between Australia and New Zealand in Dubai tomorrow, but the real cricket will be played here. I welcome all the participants and hope cricket is the ultimate winner.’’

A tightly produced event, the format of the quiz saw two groups of four teams each featuring in the preliminary rounds. Each team played three group matches each with the top two from each group making it to the semi-finals. Shyam Krishna, Alex Abraham, Matthew Smith kept the audience engaged as quizmasters with A.K.S. Satish, Jaiprasad Rai also chipping in with a round.

This is the second edition of Mr Cricket UAE-Gulf News quiz this year, with the first one taking place at the Gulf News office premises during the Indian leg of Indian Premier League 2021 in April. This was, of course, a bigger edition and cricket was the ultimate winner.

Teams

India: Abhijit Roy, Anjana Venu; England: Moiz Ahmed, Manasvi Trivedi; Australia: Husain Zaydi, Ufraa; New Zealand: Salman Raza, Arshia Mukhowkadam; Sri Lanka: Lakins Gower, Desiree Serpanchy; Pakistan: Qasim Ali, Aroshea Ali; Bangladesh: Saida Farzana, Faysal; Afghanistan: Maaz Ahmad, Amisha Aiya.