Tuesday, Aug 06, 2013

Dubai: Yogi Group emerged as the Dubai Cricket Council Ramadan tournament champions after defeating the strong Phoenix Medicine team by 51 runs in the final held at the Dubai Men’s College Fairgrounds Oval.

Yogi Group’s 26-year-old Sunny Patel produced a spectacular all-round show, cracking 81 runs, bagging two wickets and giving away just 28 runs from his five overs. It was a special win for the Yogi Group players as their team had lost in the Abu Dhabi Ramadan Cup final to Danube and had played with determination from the start to remain unbeaten throughout the tournament.

Batting first, Yogi Group got off to a bad start, losing wickets regularly in the first 15 overs and slumping to 79 for 5 at one stage. Patel, who represented Gujarat for five years in Ranji Trophy, took charge and whacked six huge sixes and four boundaries. His knock of 81 came off just 47 balls. He got excellent support from Jay Kishan, who hit 35 runs from 29 balls with one four and two sixes. Shahzad Manna then chipped in with 25 of 16 balls, with three fours and two sixes. These three batsmen withstood the tight bowling from Phoenix’s Bilal Shah and Asif Mumtaz, who took three wickets each. In the allotted 25 overs, Yogi Group posted 192 for 8.

Considering Phoenix’s batting strength, the target was easily attainable, but they got off to a bad start, losing the wicket of their promising batsman Fahad Ansari to Mohammad Rameez with just 10 runs on the board. Manna went on to take the prize wicket of the in-form opener Hafiz Kaleem for 23. Patel provided good support to Manna with two wickets. Manna virtually wrecked the Phoenix batting with a spell of 4 for 25. Rameez also chipped in with two wickets, while Mohammad Qasim top-scored with 31 runs.

Yogi Group’s Avadoot Amonkar, who captained the team in the absence of Swapnil Patil, who is representing UAE national team in Canada, received the trophy and cash prize of Dh 20,000 along with team owner Shiva Pagarani from DCC secretary Mohammad Lokhandwala. Phoenix Medicine skipper Adil Mirza received the runners-up trophy and Dh10,000 in the presence of DCC officials Farrukh Siddiqui and Shoeb Muljiani and Roop Razdan, who represented the Fair Ground management.

By K.R. Nayar Chief Cricket Writer

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