Dubai: Seven Seas Strikers team’s fighting spirit helped them produce one of the most exciting victories in a high-scoring twenty-five over tournament final and lift the Al Barakah Cup.
Led by the veteran Freddy Sidhwa, who inspires his players with his untiring effort in his sixties, Seven Seas defended their total of 271 runs against the star-studded Yogi Group team to emerge as the champions of the first edition of this tournament held under the auspices of the Dubai Cricket Council at the Seven Seas ground.
The hero of the match was Seven Seas’ in form Salman Randhawa, who is one of the many talented players picked by Sidhwa from Pakistan’s Faisalabad district. Randhawa, who has played in Pakistan Cricket Board’s prestigious Qadi Azam Trophy, proudly wears the tournament sweater and has been cracking centuries in domestic cricket.
In the Al Barakah Cup final, Randhawa hit 119 runs off just 53 balls studded with 10 sixers and seven boundaries. He also picked two wickets for 39 runs with his medium pace to emerge as the man of the match.
It was Randhawa’s second successive century for Seven Seas. In the Oasis Chemical Cup, he chased Dubai Lions total of 194 runs through a fine knock of 127 runs. This hard-hitting allrounder, who holds a Masters in Business Administration in Agriculture, comes out to bat at No.4 but ensures a big score for his team.
In the Barakah Cup final, Yogi Group chased Seven Seas’ total of 271 for 7 through their star UAE batsman and hard-hitter Shaimon Anwar’s whirlwind 66 which contained 12 boundaries. After Anwar fell, Yogi Group slipped to 153 for 6 but Sahadab scored 91 runs off just 44 balls with eight sixers to pull the team close to the target.
Sidhwa rose to the challenge and provided the breakthrough by taking the wicket of Sahadab with his gentle left-arm spin. Randhawa, Kashif and Shafaqat took two wickets each to put the brakes on Yogi Group’s run flow and restricted them to 254 for 8 in the allotted 25 overs. Anwar was adjudged the best batsman while Salman Faris won the man of the tournament award.
