Sharjah: Phoenix Medicines, who emerged as the champions of the 30th edition of the Sharjah Ramadan Cup at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium on Friday, celebrated their victory over Noor Al Yemen with a ‘snake dance’ — a la the Bangladesh cricket team. Phoenix players posed with the trophy demonstrating the snake sign after defeating Noor Al Yemen by four wickets.
Like the West Indies team that celebrates their victories through the Caribbean dance and their star player Chris Gayle, who introduced the Gangnam dance during Twenty20 World Cup in 2012, the Bangladesh team performed a snake dance routine during the 2018 Nidahas Trophy T20 series.
Bangladesh batsman Mushfiqur Rahim was the first introduce the snake dance (see video below) after Bangladesh chased down 214 to register a stunning victory over Sri Lanka.
Sunil Gavaskar, Indian batting legend and TV pundit, did an impromptu snake dance (see video below) in the commentary box — following a request from another commentator and Brett Lee’s request.
Phoenix, led by the UAE skipper Rohan Mustafa and with players like UAE’s left-arm spinner Ahmad Raza in their ranks, have been on a winning spree.
Speaking to Gulf News, Raza said: “We have won three popular tournaments and we have a really good team. We play hard and celebrate our success.”
Batting first, Noor Al Yemen posted 158 for seven in 20 overs. Phoenix’s Tahir Lateef bowled brilliantly to bag four of the seven wickets that fell from his four overs, giving away 15 runs. If not for Waheed Ahmed who slammed a 33-ball unbeaten 60 including three boundaries and five sixes, they would not have got such a score. Tariq Mehmood’ s unbeaten 19 and opener Ansar Khan’s quick 25 runs with a four and three sixes too helped.
Chasing the target, Phoenix lost a wicket early but Mustafa bit a breezy 21 runs while Muhammad Waseem scored 41 off 24 balls with four boundaries and a six. Muhammad Ikram Jura (23) and Shoaib Laghari (32) too chipped in to help Phoenix reach the target in the penultimate over.
Brief scores:
Phoenix Medicines bt Noor Al Yemen by 4 wkts.
Noor Al Yemen 158 for 7 in 20 overs (Ansar Khan 25, Waheed Ahmed 60; Tahir Lateef 4 for 15) vs Phoenix Medicines: 159 for 6 in 18.2 overs (Rohan Mustafa 21, Muhammad Waseem 41, Muhammad Ikram Jura 23, Shoaib Laghari 32; Zahir Siddiqui 2 for 34).
Individual awards: Player of the final: Tahir Latif , best batsman: Fayyaz Ahmed (NMC) 318 Runs, best bowler: Zahir Siddiqui (Phoenix) 14 wkts, Player of the tournament: Krishna Chandran (Fly Emirates) (168 runs and 10 wkts).
