A centurion in T10 tournament will get an apartment in Dubai as a prize

Ali Thumpi (second from right) with Wasim Akram (centre) and Maratha Arabians co-owner Parvez Khan (second from left) during the team's training session in Dubai.

Spectators of the T10 Cricket League are sure to witness some slam-bang, high-octane matches over the coming four days at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium.
One can expect a flurry of sixes and fours from some big-hitting batsmen. But, apart from keeping an eye on the ball, the power-hitters will also be targeting an apartment in Dubai which is on offer for the batsman that scores a century.
Speaking to Khaleej Times, Ali Tumbi of Aqua Properties, who are one of the owners of the Maratha Arabians team, said: "Any batsman who can hit a century will get a studio apartment worth Dhs 500,000 in Dubai."
When Tumbi was asked if it was possible for a player to reach a century given that the batsman could face barely 30 to 40 balls (max) in a 60-ball innings. Pat came his reply "why not".
"I can't speak for other teams, but from our team Alex Hales, Virender Sehwag and even Kamran Akmal can achieve it.
"Akmal has a 150 from 70 balls so if it comes down to 100 from 40 balls it is possible. We hope someone can hit a century and get an apartment."
Not only that, any batsman scoring a half century can walk away with a Hublo Rolex standard watch.
With interest diminishing towards Test matches and ODIs the focus has shifted towards T20s. Now with T10 coming into the picture one begs to differ whether cricket will be reduced to T5.
But Ali was quick to dispel it. "This (T10) is the limit. If you see all global games like soccer (it is 90 minutes), basketball (is four quarters of 15 minutes), so majority of these games which are very popular around the world are shorter game formats. This was a challenge for cricket. Now the world has changed, everything is moving fast so with that the game of cricket too needs to keep up with the pace with the audiences.
"People don't have patience. In T20 also it's the first 5 overs and last 5 overs which are entertaining so in between people look to switch channels. In T10 there is no channel switching. Here every ball counts and more exciting is the 'dot' ball.
"One thing different about this format is in a day you will have more than one T10 match and at the same venue which means full day entertainment."
clareto@khaleejtimes.com