Khan hits 74 as Pitchers Dubai beat Ronin Challengers by 91 runs

Gulf Today, Staff Reporter

An all-round effort by Pitchers Dubai players help them register an easy win over Ronin Challengers in a BS Double Premier League IV match held at the MCC Ground in Ajman.

Batting first, Pitchers Dubai set a target of 232, which Ronin Challengers failed to chase as they were bundled out for 141 in 21 overs.

Pitchers Dubai won the toss and elected to bat first. They suffered an early blow when their opener Faiz Beg was removed by Lalit Lakhiani, with just 23 runs on the board.

Later, their wicket-keeper batsmen Kamran shared a partnership of 81-runs with Kiran to lay down a foundation of a big score. Shawn George provided Ronin Challengers a much-needed breakthrough as he clean bowled Kamran.

Kamran scored 50 off 42 balls including four boundaries and one six. Next batsmen Taha Ahmed Khan flexed his muscles from the beginning and put the Ronin Challengers’ bowling attack to the sword.

He plundered runs all over the ground and put up a partnership of 88 runs with Kiran.

Kiran returned to the pavilion after hitting 58 from 45 balls with the help of six boundaries and two sixes.

Khan bludgeoned the Ronin Challengers bowling attack without playing any risky shots and completed his half-century in just 15 balls. Sukhi managed to remove the dangerous Khan but a tad too late as Khan had already done enough damage. His knock of 71 came off 31 balls studded with five boundaries and seven towering sixes.

Satya Srinivas added (12) and Salman Shafique Khan (8) as Pitchers Dubai posted 232 for the loss of seven wickets from their allotted 25 overs.

In reply, Ronin Challengers were off to a disastrous start as they lost their openers cheaply. Vivek Verma sent Shawn George back to the dressing room while Abdullah removed Sukhi.

Their captain Amit Keswani waged the lone battle and played a patient knock of 32 runs. Kevin Gifford (32) was also among the runs but the rest of the Ronin Challengers batsmen wilted in the face of their rivals' deadly bowling attack.

Finally their innings folded at 141 runs. Khan of Pitchers Dubai was named as man of the match.

The tournament which began on Oct.7 will continue for the next four months with each participating team will face each other and play in a total 71 matches during the event.

Team taking part in the BS Double Premier League IV are Meritorious (led by Nagaraj), Royals Stars (skippered by Fareed and Ali Sheikh), All Stars Cricket Team (headed by Syed Maqsood),

Continental CC (led by Mohsin Raza), Ronin Challengers (under captaincy of Sukhwinder Singh and Amit Keswani), Kattan CC (led by Hamdan Tahir), Spartan CC (headed by Sumit Kumar), Pitchers CC (led by Shiv), Ace Challengers (skippered by Manuel John) and Emirates Avengers (led by Ankur Maheshwari).