Dubai: Salim Qudoos turned in an all-round performance as MGM cruised to a comfortable eight-wicket win over DHL in the final of the NAS Cricket T10 Championship that concluded at the Wombats Cricket Ground late on Wednesday.
Qudoos was MGM’s big star of the night with two wickets to help restrict DHL to 127-4. He then returned later to blast a 13-ball 32 including three boundaries and two huge sixes to take MGM across the line with eight balls to spare.
This fine all-round performance earned him the Man of the Match and the Best Bowler of the Tournament awards, while teammate Mohammad Hassan picked up the Best Batsman prize for his total of 157 runs.
This was cricket’s first appearance in the Nad Al Sheba Ramadan Sports Tournament, which is organised under the patronage of Shaikh Hamdan Bin Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of Dubai Sports Council, every year since 2013 during Ramadan.
Meanwhile, defending champions Saudi Driving School — who last year won the title as Emirates Driving Institute — will defend their crown against Fohood Zabeel at the NAS Futsal Championship final to be held on the concluding day of the event on Friday.
In Wednesday’s two semi-finals, Fohood Zabeel defeated Dubai Police 8-6 in a thriller, while Saudi Driving School defeated Al Taher 5-3 to set up the final.
In the first semi-final, the policemen seemed to be cruising towards an easy win as they went into the break with a 4-0 lead. But, Fohood Zabeel staged a stunning recovery in the second half, fighting back from 6-2 down to level the scores at 6-6 in the dying seconds of regulation period. They then scored two more in extra-time to complete their incredible turnaround.
RESULTS
Cricket
Final: MGM bt DHL by 8 wickets: DHL 127-4 (K Sajjad 28, M Sagheer 31 n.o., M Rizwan 32 n.o.; S Qudoos 2-13) MGM Cricket Club Sharjah 128 for 2 (T Javed 48, A Hamza 33 n.o.; S Qudoos 32 n.o.)
Futsal
Semi-finals: Fohood Zabeel bt Dubai Police 8-6, Saudi Driving School bt Al Taher 5-3
