Dubai: University of Wollongong Dubai (UWOD) and Heriot-Watt University Dubai moved into the semi-finals of the Maxtalent Global Sports Pride Cup.
While UWOD beat last year’s semi-finalists Ajman University of Science and technology by 26 runs in a low-scoring match, Heriot-Watt defeated London American City College (LACC) by 29 runs.
In the first match, UOWD put up a decent total of 124 for eight in 20 overs, with healthy contributions from skipper Anish Ahuja (32 off 46 balls) and Ritik Bagchi (35 off 28 balls). Faraz Jafri, the Ajman captain, reaped two wickets for just nine runs and was well supported by Mohammad Farooq, who picked up three wickets for 27 runs, and Asim Zia, who got two for 29.
UOWD showed their bowling prowess to restrict Ajman to a meagre 98 runs, with Jafri providing some resistance with 36 off 27 balls. The spin trio of Ahuja, Shahrukh Shaikh and Hamza Shahid did most of the damage for UOWD.
In the second game of the day, Heriot-Watt elected to bat first and put on a total of 135 in 20 overs against LACC. Abdullah Pasha scored 31 off 44 balls at the top of the order but the batsman failed to pick up the tempo after his dismissal. Rohit Singh and Mohsin Khan took matters into their own hands and went for everything in the slog overs. Singh, the UAE’s under-19 national team captain, scored 35 off 23 balls while Khan smashed a 39 off just 20 balls.
LACC’s batting line-up failed to take off as Dushyant Asar and Khan picked up three wickets each.
