Waqas Raja, the man of the match in Red Flower Tourism’s thumping 10-wicket win in Al Dhaid a day earlier, starred with another fine all-round performance for his team in a 19-run win over Old School Boys, this time at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium in the Sharjah Ramadan Cup.
Raja first scored a fine 26 in a 65-run partnership for the opening wicket with Yaqoob Masih, who went on to score 51. Rinku Kumar then came in to smash an unbeaten 58 off only 27 balls, adding 62 runs for the fourth wicket with Ubadah Barmawar (25 not out) as Red Flower Tourism put 197 for three on the board.
Raja then came back to pick three wickets for 14 runs to help restrict the Old School Boys to 178 for eight, despite Hafiz Kaleem’s superb knock of 91 (44 balls, six fours, nine sixes) and Nashwan Nasir’s unbeaten 40. Anfal PM also took three wickets for 32.
In the night’s other match at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium, Sultan Ahmed starred with a four-for in Alubond Tigers’ eight-wicket win over Unicon Real Estate.
Ahmed struck in his first over, dismissing the two Unicon Real Estate openers Naseeb Khan (21) and Abid Jutt (6) off successive deliveries after a careful start, which saw only 28 runs being scored from the first five overs.
Ahmed took two more wickets later in the innings to finish with four for 12, while Nasir Aziz took three for 21 as Unicon were restricted to 120 for nine after choosing to bat first.
Chasing the relatively modest target, Alubond Tigers got across the line in just 11.2 overs with Rohan Mustafa smashing a 26-ball unbeaten 52 in the chase. He added 59 runs off just 33 balls in an entertaining partnership for the opening wicket with Shahid Siddiqe (46).
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