Dubai: Jumeirah Mammoths recovered from a precarious position to beat Nad Al Sheba (NAS) Mammoths by 16 runs in the final of the 17th edition of the League of Mammoths at the Dubai 7s ground last week.
Jumeirah Mammoths captain Shiva Pagarani’s decision to elect to bat first backfired immediately as he along with six other of his batsmen were back in the pavilion with the scoreboard reading 75 for 7.
Nad Al Sheba’s Sanjay Pathak wreaked havoc and the picture looked gloomy for Jumeirah until man of the match Sharan Pinto and CTK Mashood steadied their innings with a decent partnership. After the exit of Mashood, Pinto found a good ally in Prashant Shetty, who scored a brisk unbeaten 41 off 20 balls, while Pinto made 37 to give Jumeirah a respectable total of 161.
Pathak finished with four for 16, while Rajesh Thadani and Ben Thakkar chipped in with two wickets each.
Heavy weather
NAS made a mess of the chase although Sunil Selvaraj was holding one end up. A defiant 62 from Selvaraj and a quickfire 23 from Tanish Suri took NAS closer to the target but Lucky Abbas (2-23), Ravish Malik (2-26) and Pinto struck crucial blows for Jumeirah to reduce NAS to 145 for 7 in 25 overs.
Six teams participated in this edition of which four were Mammoth teams — Jumeirah, Shindagha, Nad Al Sheba and Zabeel — and two guest teams, Banke and Dubai Exiles.
The double round-robin tournament has grown in popularity over the years and is played mainly among veterans on Fridays. The success of the tournament wherein families come over to watch the matches over the weekend makes for a nice atmosphere, which has resulted in the organisers setting the ball rolling for the 18th edition starting on December 10.
Brief Scores: Jumeirah Mammoths beat Nad Al Sheba Mammoths by 16 runs. Jumeirah Mammoths 161 in 25 overs (Prashant Shetty 41 not out, Sharan Pinto 37; Sanjay Pathak 4-16, Rajesh Thadani 2-24, Ben Thakkar 2-30) NAS 145 for 7 in 25 overs (Sunil Selvaraj 62, Tanish Suri 23; Ravish Malik 2-26, Lucky Abbas 2-23, Sharan Pinto 1-32). Player of the final: Sharan Pinto.
Best batsman: Nikhil Srinivasan of Jumeirah Mammoths (10 matches, 391 runs).
Best bowler: Devendra Taneja of Nad Al Sheba (10 matches, 25 wickets).
Player of the tournament: Mahendra Mota of Banke (9 matches, 24 wickets, 11 runs).
