Doha : QALCO Defeats Al-Muftah to Win KSQ Cricket Tournament
Alexis Castelino
Daijiworld Media Network - Doha
Doha, Feb 10: QALCO lifted the Karnataka Sangha Qatar (KSQ) cricket trophy after defeating Al-Muftah in a closely contested final here on Thursday February 10.
There were more than 500 cricket-lovers from around Qatar who gathered to witness the final in spite of the cold weather. The disappointment over the exit of popular teams Pallonji and Hannan in the semi-finals was palpable among the fans.
The semi-finals were played between Al-Muftah and Pallonji and QALCO and Hannan, and both matches saw some tough fights. In the first semi-final Irruddin (68) from Al-Muftah bagged man of the match for his performance with the bat while in the second semi-final Imran Khan from QALCO bagged the title for his outstanding batting performance that fetched him 78 runs.
In the final, Al-Muftah won the toss and elected to field first. QALCO however capitalised on the opportunity and its openers Naseeb and Majeed gave the team and aggressive start with a partnership of 25 runs, which led the team to put up a score of 144 runs from 15 overs with a loss of 8 wickets. Muzammil scored a quickfire 39 runs with three massive sixes in 21 deliveries. He had good support from Naeem and Majeed who scored 29 and 24 respectively thus managing a huge total. Haffez took 3 wickets for Al-Muftah conceding 19 runs in the allotted overs.
In reply, Al-Muftah openers Irruddin and Rizwan gave a steady start, followed by an electrifying batting display by Bhoota who scored 23 runs in 10 balls. Awais scored 30 from 17 balls with the help of 2 sixes. Irruddin scored 37 from 30 balls, Khurram 27 runs from 24 balls with the help of 2 sixes, but the effort was not enough as the team fell short of the target by just three runs with the loss of five wickets.
Before the start of the second innings the guest of honour, former India wicketkeeper Sadanand Vishwanath, who flew in all the way from Bangalore, was introduced to the players. He wished the players good luck and advised them that winning or losing is part of the game and one should accept this in true sportsmanship spirit.
Vishwanath, who was also the guest of honour for the closing ceremony, was honoured by the KSQ president Arun Kumar with a Peta, while vice-president Mannangi honoured him with a shawl and chief guest of the evening Chidanand with a garland.
Sadanand Vishwanath addressed the gathering and said that he was impressed by the performance of both teams and appreciated KSQ for their initiative in organizing such a big tournament. He also applauded Qatar's sporting culture which enabled it to win the bid for 2022 FIFA World Cup. He urged all Asian teams to be united whether they were from India, Pakistan, Srilanka or Bangladesh and play as a team.
Chief guest of the evening and main sponsor of the tournament Chidananda Naik was present on the dais and presented the runners-up trophy and honoured the players with memento and gifts.
Satish, the admin and accounts manager of Qatar Design Consortium was also the guest of honour. Vishwanath handed over the winner's trophy to QALCO and presented all the team members with individual gifts.
The umpires of the tournament were Tahir Mohmood, Anil, Chanaka and Usman while the scorers were Iqbal, Amjad and A Suresh. Ejaz, Naidu, Habib un Nabhi, Zafar and Iqbal were the commentators and music was handed by talented DJ Avinash. All of them were felicitated by the guests and committee members.
The man of the match of every game was awarded with a trophy and a gift.
Team Al-Muftah: Owais Malik (c) Khurram, Rizlam, Bhoota, Asif, Irruddin, Zaheer, Hafeez, Mushir, Naveed, Hasam and Farid.
Team QALCO: Shahid (c), Naseeb, Majeed, Naeem, Ifzal, Imran Khan, Muzammil, Sarfaraz, Fernandes, Kazi, Nadeem and Mustaq.
Individual winners were as follows:
Best batsman: Gyan of LAGAAN
Best bowler: Owais Malik of Al-Muftah
Best all rounder: Shailesh of M Pallonji
Man of the match in final: Muzammil (Qalco)
Man of the tournament: Irrudin (Al-Muftah)
The progamme was compered by the dynamic Milan Aurn, head of Affiliation & Consular service at the ICC, while the KSQ sports secretary Deepak Shetty proposed the vote of thanks. He thanked all the sponsors, volunteers, members and those who extended their support to the tournament.
There were 12 teams participating in the tournament, namely, Hannan, Pallonji, CBQ, Tulukoota, Al-Muftah, SKMWA, Tech Solutions, QDC, Lagaan, KIA, ATS and QALCO.
K M Varghese, president of ICC, Nilangshu Dey, president of ICBF, Hassan Chougle, chairman, advisory council, ICC, Harish Kanjani general manager, Al Qamra Trading, Ravi Shetty, managing director of ATS, Ramachandra Shetty Tulu Koota, president, Prakashchandra Ajila, former president of Tulu Koota, Abdulla Monu, SKMWA president, Mohammed Shameem Haleyangadi, Azim Abbas (IBPN), Divakar Poojary (ICBF), Kaisar (QVC), M I Farid, Habib un H Abhi were present.
Dr Sanjay Kudri coordinated the event.