Change in fortunes as T20 Independence Cup reach knock-out stage

SANJAY GOEL
Correspondent | Monday October 4, 2010 00:00

Group B sides, Fair Motors, Lankasia XI and Lobatse pulled off surprise wins over their seniors from Group A like defending champions Gujarat XI, the daring Hyderabad and the never-say-die Friends.

Choppies had earlier beaten Caterplus to become the first team to reach the quarter-finals.

Lankasia were bundled out for 117 all out by Hyderabad but fought back to demoralise their opponents by bowling them for 101 runs. Against a mammoth Lobatse score of 180 in 20 overs, which included a magnificent 78 by Abdullah Malek with nine fours and two sixes.

Friends submitted to 144 all out despite a fighting 36* by Francistown-based Mateen Khan and bowed out of the championship to Lobatse on the basis of the net run rate.

Fair Motors stunned Gujarat XI by 68 runs after Tariq Ahmed (45 in 22 balls), Asif Akha (64* off 34 balls) and Rahil Shaikh (50* off 35 balls) helped them to 189 runs. In reply, Gujarat XI was bundled out for a paltry 121 all out as Matlub Syed and Yousuf Akaa tore through the batting line-up.

Gymkhana was made to sweat in the dry heat over the Independence Day holidays with three games in two days. JB Sports put up a great fight against Gymkhana but lost by 14 runs.

Gymkhana then trounced Lankasia by nine wickets. Noor Ahmed was outstanding for Gymkhana as he scored 105 runs between the two games and took a five-wicket haul against Lankasia. Farukh Shah's 77* and Farukh Abbasi's 48 were the other good performers for Gymkhana.

Moghul trounced JB Sports by 104 runs as they made a mockery of the latter's decision to put them in to bat after winning the toss.  A 120 run opening stand included 83 by Botswana's national opening batsman, Faisal Rana. Karan Kapoor's wily off-spinners fetched him 3/18.

High School XI put up a brave fight but fell to Gujarat XI by 33 runs.

Fair Motors (85) were no match for Pioneers (172/7) as Karabo Motlhanka (24), Denzil Sequira (63) and Namal Bandara's breezy 44* excelled in the innings. 

Autoworld beat Gabs West by seven wickets with their stylish left-hander, Sagar Joshi scoring  51*. But could not help Autowolrd qualify for the next round as Choppies and Caterplus had already made it through from Group D.A large crowd gathered to watch the Friday night blockbuster between arch-rivals United Gymkhana and Moghul. The all-conquering Moghul shrugged off Gymkhana's token opposition and cruised to a magnificent victory to enter the quarters in grand style.

Initially, the Gymkhana pace restricted Moghul to 30-0 in the first six overs of power play.

Then the Moghul batsmen clinched the contest by a breezy and vastly entertaining 84 off 60 balls by Faisal Rana and 53 off 42 balls from Feroz Gaswala, who together put on a first wicket partnership of 140 runs.

United Gymkhana was left to challenge the Moghul score of 187-2. Chasing over nine runs per over to finish on top of Group B, Gymkhana cruised to 92-4 at the end of 10 overs.  However as their star batsman Aqlaq Raja was caught off Avez Sayed for 29, four run-outs followed and Gymkhana lost its way in the wake of some tight fielding by Moghul. Shabir Ali with 42 off 23 balls was the highest scorer for Gymkhana as its innings folded at 160 runs, Moghul winning the match by 27 runs.  Pioneers sealed off a comfortable win over High School XI in the Saturday night game, thus topping Group A with 10 points, while Gujarat XI sailed through at the expense of Dare Devils on the net run rate.