Daijiworld Media Network – Riyadh (SP)
Riyadh, Nov 8: Seven Stars Mulky team won the ‘Karavali Trophy – 2010’ by defeating Mangalore Kings team in a match that was played in Riyadh on November 5. The winning team humbled the runner up team by 18 runs.
Karavali Welfare Association Riyadh (KWAR) had conducted this tournament as part of its annual sports and cultural programme. The association will be celebrating its Annual Day on November 26, 2010. Sixteen teams from Coastal Karnataka participated in this tournament. Seven Stars Mulky and Mangalore Kings, both of which registered splendid performances in the initial matches, fittingly reached the finals.
Mangalore Kings captain, Yunus, won the toss and elected to field first. The opening pair of Seven Stars team, Riyaz Sagar and Haroon, amassed 60 runs in the first six overs. Shorter boundary and slow outfield allowed them to resort to their natural attacking play. Riyaz got run out when trying to steal a second run in the seventh over. Mangalore Kings bowlers thereafter, managed to check the run rate of the opponents, and finally restricted Seven Stars to 102 in the allotted 12 overs, for the loss of six wickets. Haroon scored 32, while Riyaz Sagar made 23, on behalf of Seven Stars. The other batsmen were unable to reach the double figures. Farooq, Imran, Usman and Yaseer, who bowled excellently, took a wicket each.
Chasing this modest target, Mangalore Kings started well with Asif striking the very first ball of the innings out of the ground for a six, and then going on to collect 16 runs for the first wicket in two overs with his partner, Imran. Disciplined bowling and good fielding displayed by the players of Seven Stars team made the target look formidable. Sanjeev led the attack for the Seven Stars, and took three important wickets in his first three overs, giving away just 19 runs. Batsmen of Mangalore Kings tried to hit every ball out of the ground, and in the process, lost quick wickets. Usman and Sharief could not lead their Kings team out of the woods. For Mangalore Kings, Asif scored 19, Usman 13 and Sharief made 12. For Seven Stars, Sanjeev took three wickets, Hyder and Shamsu took two wickets each, and Dawood got the only other wicket.
The victory helped Seven Stars Mulky, to emerge as the champions of the tournament in Riyadh for 2010.
Manilal, Jet Aiways Riyadh representative, was the chief guest for the day. Ashfak and Bhasker P M entertained the crowd with their running commentaries of the match in Hindi and Tulu respectively. KWAR president, Ramesh Shetty, vice president, Royston Prabhu, and the all the members of KWAR committee were present at the dais. Parvez Ali, who hosted the prize distribution programme, requested Manilal to inform about the progress of the proposal by Jet Airways to introduce direct flights between Mangalore and Riyadh. He replied that the airline is still working on it and that he would keep the association informed whenever there some progress on the proposal.
Individual Prize Winners:
Man of the Final – Haroon from Seven Stars Mulky
Man of the Series – Imran from Mangalore Kings
Best Bowler of the tournament – Sanjeev from Seven Stars Mulky
Best Batsman of the tournament – Riyaz Sagar from Seven Stars Mulky