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Wings, top players honoured

Wings Group skipper Neeraj Ramamoorthy was over the moon after receiving the winner’s trophy from Priya Ramamoorthy of Blenheim Energy the sponsors of the Blenheim Champion’s tournament conducted by the Dubai Cricket Council at 7he Sevens cricket ground last month.

Neeraj said, “I am very, very happy to lift this trophy as it helps me and my team to erase the memory of our loss in the KPL finals.

“Our overseas players from Afghanistan and local boys have performed brilliantly to see us through to this win. We really enjoyed playing in this tournament which was conducted very professionally by Dubai Cricket Council and look forward to participating in many more such tournaments. I am dedicating this win to Shiva Pagarani who inspired me to build my own team and take the game more seriously.”

Afganistan players representing the Wings Group put up some stupendous performances led by Dawlat Zadran, who twice bagged five wicket hauls including in the finals and had the opposition batsmen hopping around in trouble with his fiery pace.

All-rounder Gulbodin Naib was the hero in Wings Groups final scoring 72 runs and bagging four wickets for 29 runs to be the man of the match in the finals while Mohamed Nabi and Samiullah Shinwari made valuable contributions to see them bag the champions title.

Blenheim Energy owner, Priya said: “We are very happy to have sponsored the Blenheim Champions trophy A Division as we believe that playing 50 overs cricket is the most important format for the best players of this country to play in and perform. We hope that this tournament will help them carry their good performances when representing UAE in international cricket. We are delighted with our partnership with Dubai cricket Council and promise to support this tournament in the coming years.”

Dubai Cricket Council Honorary Secretary, Mohamed Lokhandwala said: “Dubai Cricket Council started off after a gap of six years due to the loss of our cricket grounds with valuable tie-ups with 7he Sevens and the ICC Global Cricket Academy.

“This was only possible with the support from our sponsors like Mobil Oil, Debonair Pizza, Interface Transworld and Shyam Bhatia’s Cricket for Care which saw DCC back into the foray and conducting some wonderful cricket.

“What we were lacking was support for a 50 over tournament which costs more as it is a longer game and we are very thankful to Neeraj, Priya and Blenheim Energy for their kind support to fulfill this dream and help us with this A Division tournament sponsorship.”

A total of Dh33,000 was on offer with the Wings Group pocketing Dh20,000 and a trophy.

Runners up Ibsons received Dh10,000 and a trophy.

The Best Bowler award with a cheque for Dh1,000 was won by Afghanistan speedster Dawlat Zadran of the Wings Group. He bagged 16 wickets including two five wicket hauls.

The Best Batsman honour went to Rohan Mustafa of Phoenix Medicine thanks to the 296 runs in the tournament with two fifties and a high 92 against champions Wings Group. He also bagged eight wickets with his off spin. Mustafa pocketed Dh1,000.

The Player of the Tournament trophy and a cash award of Dh5,000 went to UAE player Saqib Ali who scored 395 runs with two centuries including a 119 against Interface Transworld and a 104 against Zultec. He also bagged 13 wickets with his off spinners to easily win the coveted award.

Besides the above, there were two outstanding performances with Ibrahim Malek of Ibsons scoring a blistering knock of 205 runs smashing five sixes and 25 fours against Zultec and off spinner Shiva Pagrani who bowled a mesmerising spell bagging seven wickets for 27 runs against Interface Transworld in their last league game.