Dubai
The Maxtalent Global Sports Vision Cup inter-school Boys Under-15 tournament turned out a somewhat one-man show by Al Warqa team skipper Alishan Sharafu. The 15-year-old carried his good run with the bat in the final when his century helped Our Own High School Al Warqa defeat Our Own English High School Sharjah by 77 runs in final.
Piling up 322 runs in the tournament and taking five wickets with his medium pace, he bagged the Player of the Tournament, best batsman and Player of the Final awards.
Sharafu’s knock of 101 runs in 48 balls, in his team’s total of 188 for three in 20 overs, was too tough for their opponents to reach. His teammate Pranav Rajendran too had chipped in with 49 runs off 51 balls. Our Own Sharjah were then restricted to 111 for seven in 20 overs despite Deepak Raj’s 41 runs.
Speaking to Gulf News, Sharafu said: “It was indeed a nice feeling to perform in the final. This whole tournament was a great experience for me as I could perform consistently in all matches. I am happy that I was able to carry on my form this season into this tournament.”
Sharafu had performed brilliantly in the Shreyas Memorial inter-school tournament too and hit a century against Indian High School. “I hit 125 against Indian High School. I also hit a quick 100 off just 36 balls against M.S. Dhoni Academy. Due to my consistency, I became the only one to get selected for Dubai Under-16, Under-19 and men’s team in the same season. I train at the Cricket School of Excellence (CSE) Cricket Academy.”
In the Inter Emirates tournament, he was in top form and cracked two centuries. “I scored 135 against Sharjah and then hit 115 against Ajman. Last year I was in the UAE Under-16 and Under-19 camp and hope to play for UAE soon,” said Sharafu, who idolises AB De Villiers.
“De Villiers is my hero. I too love to bat displaying all my strokes like him. During my 100 in 36 balls, my 50 came in 14 balls. I am right now in No.1 position for the Under-16 Most Valuable Player and in the third position in the UAE Under-19 Inter Emirates tournament,” said Sharafu, who was also involved in a mammoth 236-run partnership with Ronak Panoly for Cricket School of Excellence (CSE) Cricket Academy in the Emirates Cricket Board Under-17 inter-academy league.
Mazhar Khan, the Emirates Cricket Board Administrator, who gave away the prizes, lauded the efforts of Maxtalent in boosting cricket at the schools level. The other notable performances include the tournament’s highest score notched up by JSS International, Dubai against Indian School Ajman when they posted 334 runs in 20 overs.
Shiwal Bawa had cracked 203 in 65 balls along while Vedant Deshpande who hit 106 in 55 balls. Nikhil Rattesar from Delhi Private School, Sharjah too bagged had hat-trick.
