December 6, 2020 | By - Admin

Day 1 Of Emirates D20 Tournament: Check Out All Highlights & Match Report

The first match of the Emirates Cricket Board’s ‘Emirates D20’ successfully commenced at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium today. In what was a superb show of defending a modest total, Basil Hameed-led ECB Blues defeated Abu Dhabi by a margin of 36 runs.

Highlights of Match 1: ECB Blues v/s Abu Dhabi

Abu Dhabi elected to field first after winning the toss and restricted ECB Blues to a not-so-competitive total of 142 runs for the loss of 7 wickets. From ECB Blues, Rizwan CP was the top scorer as he scored a brisk 40 off just 28 balls, hitting 4 fours and a six. Other notable contributions came from Vriitya Aravind and youngster Aryan Lakra, who scored 24 and 18 runs, respectively. Karthik Nagendran, Mazhar Bashi, and Midhun Sudhakar Pattlikkadan picked two wickets each for Abu Dhabi.

Abu Dhabi lost their way after a steady start that came courtesy of a partnership of 39 runs between openers Surjith Manohardas and Soorya Sathish. However, as wickets kept falling at regular intervals, the chase never looked to reach its destination, and the team fell short of 36 runs in the end with a total of 106/9 after 20 overs. As many as 7 batsmen from Abu Dhabi failed to reach double figures. It was an ‘Aryan Lakra Show’ in the second innings as the 18-year-old ran rout over Abu Dhabi with 5 wickets for just 16 runs in his four overs.

The second match of the tournament will be played between Fujairah Sharjah from 5:00 PM (GST) on Sunday at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium.

Highlights of Match 2: Fujairah vs Sharjah

Fujairah overcame Sharjah in a closely fought contest at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium. Playing the second game of the Emirates D20, Sharjah won the toss and asked Fujairah to bat first. While Fujairah could only post 148/4 in their allotted 20 overs, some tight bowling in the death overs by the side restricted Sharjah from the chasing the total down.

Asked to bat first by Sharjah at the toss, Fujairah accumulated 148 runs for the loss of 4 wickets in their 20 overs. An early partnership of 57 runs between openers Waseem Muhammad (34) and Rohan Mustafa (39) helped the team to get off to a good start. The scoreboard was then helped by Usman Khan’s quick-fire fifty as he smashed 50 runs off just 34 balls. Khan’s innings included six and 5 boundaries. Sharjah was able to slow the pace down towards the end of the innings, restricting Fujairah from crossing the 150-run mark. Kashif Daud, Arsalan Javed, and Umair Ali took one wicket each in the first innings.

Sharjah in response ended up with 138 on the board after an innings that was cruising towards victory but lost its plot in the final overs. A tremendous effort of 45 runs (31 balls) with 4 fours and a six by skipper Fayyaz Ahmad wasn’t enough to get his team over the line. Khalid Shah, who scored 31 runs was the second-highest scorer. Sharjah captain Ahmed Raza lead from the front giving away just 11 runs and claiming one wicket in his spell of four overs. Former UAE captain Rohan Mustafa, Luqman Hazrat, Muhammad Farooq, and Aayan Afzal Khan took a wicket apiece for Fujairah.

Ajman will take on Abu Dhabi in the third and final game of day one of the Emirates D20 in Dubai. The match will begin at 9 PM (GST) at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium.

Highlights of Match 3: Ajman vs Abu Dhabi

Fujairah ran rout of Abu Dhabi in the third match of Emirates D20 on Sunday.  After winning the toss, Ajman gave Abu Dhabi a daunting target of 182 runs. Fujairah didn’t let the opposition take control of the chase for once during the second innings, and the latter were bundled out for 111 runs only.

Ajman were helped with a steady knock by Abdul Shakoor, who hit 8 boundaries during his stay of 60 runs from 58 deliveries. It was then Rameez Shahzad who took Ajman to a highly-competitive total of 181 runs with his blazing knock of 73 runs, which he accumulated in 43 deliveries. Shahzad struck 12 fours and a six while at the crease. From Abu Dhabi, both skipper Midhun Sudhakar Pattlikkadan and Matiullah Khan grabbed two wickets each as the fielding saw its other bowlers go out of the park one time too many.

Abu Dhabi could never attain the pace during their innings to chase the total down successfully, and ended their innings on 111 all-out in 19.2 overs. In the quest of 182 runs, the team lost its top three batsmen in the first seven overs. Top contributor was captain Midhun Sudhakar Pattlikkadan, who scored 42 runs with the help of two sixes and a boundary. Surjith Manohardas, Mazhar Bashir, and Pasindu Wanniarachchi were the only other batsmen who scored in double figures as seven Abu Dhabi batsmen failed to achieve the feat. Star of the first half, Rameez Shahzad stole the limelight in the second innings as well by returning bowling figures of 1/3 in 1.3 overs. Sultan Ahmad and Ehtesham Siddiq picked two wickets each for Fujairah.

Rameez Shahzad was adjudged the ‘Man of The Match’ for his blistering knock of 73 runs and 3 wickets for just 1 run in 1.3 overs.