WINNERS: Ooredoo-Doha Cricket Club, the winners of the tournament, celebrating their victory with tournament organisers and guests.
By Umer Nangiana
Omran Hussain’s five wickets, three in an over, and Tanveer’s quick-fire 64 inspired Ooredoo-Doha Cricket Club (DCC) to an eight-wicket victory over Elite Force Chaudhry Cricket Club (EFCC), helping them lift the championship trophy of Ibin Ajyan Project and How Automobile Center Organised Ramadan T20 Cricket Tournament.
Held in Asian Town International Cricket Stadium Industrial Area, the tournament was organised under flood lights during Ramadan with two matches a night. In all, 18 teams participated in the tourney that saw Ooredoo-DCC defeating EFCC in the final to claim the championship.
In the run up to finals, the Ooredoo-DCC defeated Al Feroz and EFCC won over Galfar Al Misnad in the semi-finals.
The grand finale, cheered by a good crowd of spectators, witnessed the last year’s runners-up EFCC winning the toss and electing to bat first. They were off to a decent start with opening batsman Chaudhary Iqbal scoring 23 in first four overs. However, their middle and lower batting orders collapsed.
The demise was brought about by a thunderous bowling display from Oreedoo-DCC’s Omran Hussain. He sent three batsmen back to pavilion in a single over before going on to claim two more scalps. The only batsmen to reach double figures from EFCC were Khalid, 24, Shuja, 23 and Shahzad, 10. They were restricted to 127 runs for 9 in their allotted 20 overs. Tabrez Sheikh, Tahreeb and Muhammed Tanveer claimed one wicket each for Ooredoo-DCC.
Chasing 128, Ooredoo-DCC lost their opener Naeem in the very first over of their innings. This was, however, one of the only two wickets the EFCC bowlers could claim before Umer Taj and Muhammad Tanveer effectively snatched the match from their hands with an explosive yet stable partnership of 44 in the middle.
Umer Taj contributed with a quick 27 runs in 24 balls with 5 fours in the second wicket partnership which provided a solid platform for Tanveer, later joined by Khurram Shahzad, to launch an offensive. Tanveer in particular came mercilessly harsh on EFCC bowlers, smashing them all over the ground.
His unbeaten 64 in 49 balls included four fours and four towering sixes. Shahzad’s unbeaten 28 included two fours. Ooredoo-DCC won the match by eight wickets with nine balls to spare. Only Usman for EFCC managed to take a wicket.
At the presentation ceremony, Khalid Mohammed al-Ahbabi of Ibin Ajayan Project, Asian Town and Muhammed Hussain Chaudhary of How Automobile Center presented the winners’ trophy with a prize money of QR50,000 to Ooredoo-DCC captain and managers Kamal Kaldane, Yunus Thakur and Awais Mailk respectively.
Omran Hussain of Ooredoo-DCC received Man of the Final Trophy with a prize money of QR500 from Riyaz Cheeroth, for his match-wining bowling performance in the finale.
Ejaz Chaudhary handed over QR25,000 with the runners-up trophy to Iqbal Chaudhary, the captain of EFCC. Sajjad Chaudhary, the organiser of the tournament, handed over QR500 along with a Best Batsman of the Tournament trophy to Sharif of Centurion Cricket Club. He also presented QR500 with a trophy to Best Bowler of the Tournament, Hafeez Nadeem of Al Feroz Youngster.
Dilawar Ghazali handed over QR500 with a trophy to the Best All Rounder of the Tournament, Khurram Shahzad of Ooredoo-DCC. Selex Cricket Club, Doha Bank Cricket Club and Shah XI bagged Fair Play Award trophies.
In the end, Sajjad Chaudhary, the organiser of the tournament, distributed a number of mobile phones as gifts to the audience members for turning up in huge numbers and supporting the tournament.
